The Karnataka Cabinet has decided to recognise Tulu as the state’s second additional administrative language, Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said on Friday, alongside approving development proposals worth Rs 32,611 crore and announcing a separate tourism policy for coastal Karnataka.
The decision places Tulu, spoken primarily in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts, within the state’s administrative language framework. A Cabinet note shared by the Chief Minister’s Office described it as the “second additional administrative language”.
Shivakumar said Tulu had the potential to support educational and cultural growth. The Cabinet decision is therefore linked not only to language recognition but also to how public administration, education and cultural institutions engage with the coastal region’s linguistic identity. The supplied announcement does not specify when the recognition will take effect or which government departments and services will implement it.
The Cabinet also decided that the state government would bring out a separate tourism policy for coastal Karnataka. Shivakumar cited the region’s long coastline, cultural traditions, religious sites and heritage locations as the basis for a distinct policy approach.
The proposed tourism policy would cover the coastal Tulunadu region, although the announcement did not provide details on its scope, funding structure, infrastructure priorities or implementation timeline. It also did not identify specific tourism projects or indicate how the policy would coordinate with existing state-level tourism planning.
Alongside these decisions, the Cabinet approved development proposals worth Rs 32,611 crore. According to the Chief Minister, the package includes Rs 16,000 crore for rural development and an equal amount for the coastal Tulunadu region. The figures reported in the announcement total Rs 32,000 crore, leaving a difference of Rs 611 crore for which no allocation details were provided in the supplied material.
The announcement connects language administration, cultural recognition and regional development within a single Cabinet decision. For coastal Karnataka, the next key details will be the formal notification on Tulu’s administrative status, the contents of the separate tourism policy and the project-wise allocation and execution plan for the approved development proposals.
