Mangaluru, 18 September

Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Friday announced that Tulu would be made the State's second “additional administrative language” in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts. 

According to the 2011 Census, Karnataka has 1,595,038 native Tulu speakers. It is widely spoken Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, as well as in neighbouring Chikkamagaluru and Shivamogga districts.

The Cabinet also decided to issue a draft notification seeking to rename Dakshina Kannada as ‘Mangaluru District’. Public objections have been invited for one month. 

"We have more or less come to the view that Dakshina Kannada district should be declared as Mangaluru district,” Shivakumar said after chairing a Cabinet meeting in Mangaluru.

The government would take into account people's sentiments and the traditional aspects associated with the name before taking a final decision, Shivakumar said.

Shivakumar also said that the government has decided on a new tourism policy covering the Malnad and coastal regions.

The policy envisages treating tourism projects in the regions as infrastructure projects and providing incentives to attract investment, besides giving investors more time to repay loans, Shivakumar said.