Tamil chairs to be created at Oxford and Johannesburg universities, EPS informs House
Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday announced various measures for development of Tamil language, including setting up of a Chair in the name of Bharat Ratna MGR at the International Institute of Tamil Studies, besides creating Tamil chairs at top educational institutions in the world like London’s Oxford University and South Africa’s Johannesburg University.
By : migrator
Update: 2018-06-28 20:34 GMT
Chennai
Making a statement under Rule 110 in the Assembly, he said the Tamil chairs would be set up for conducting research and promoting the classical language.
He said the MGR Arts and Social Development Research Chair would be set up to commemorate the birth centenary of the former Chief Minister and to show case to the country and the world, the contributions made by him for the society, arts, Tamil language and people’s welfare.
“The Chair at the International Institute of Tamil Studies will have a corpus fund of Rs 1 crore,” he said, amid thumping of desks by the members of the Treasury Benches.
Palaniswami also announced setting up of Tamil chairs at Oxford and Johannesburg Universities in London and South Africa respectively, besides in University of Jaffna in Sri Lanka and University of Malaya in Malaysia.
“The government will allocate a fund of Rs 5 crore every year for this purpose,” he added.
“Tamil is the mother of all languages. To develop and promote it further, the government will allocate Rs 5 crore yearly for instituting Tamil Chairs in countries where the population of Tamil speaking people is significant,” the Chief Minister said.
Sorkuvai plan
The Chief Minister also said developing Tamil in the digital age would be faster if it was taken online and the vast Tamil literature, grammar and words were made available to scholars and researchers across the world.
In this context, he announced the ‘Sorkuvai plan’ to provide easy access to the vast collection of Tamil words, their meanings, synonyms, their correct grammatical usage, commonly used words and so on.
“They would all be compiled and provided in an open source digital format to language researchers and scholars everywhere,” he said, adding, a sum of Rs 1crore would be provided every year for this purpose.
To protect the interests of the Tamil people in other countries and states outside Tamil Nadu, Palaniswami also announced holding of an International Tamil Societies Conference once in two years at a cost of Rs 5 crore.
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