TN govt to set up Tamil chairs in universities across the globe, allocates funds

The Tamil Nadu government will set up chairs in prestigious universities around the world, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami announced in the state Assembly on Thursday.

He also announced the creation of an Arts and Social development Research chair at the International Institute of Tamil Studies in memory of late Chief Minister MG Ramachandran (MGR) for his birth centenary, for which Rs 1 crore would be granted.

The CM announced the measures under Rule 110 of the Assembly.

>The CM also reportedly said that a Tamil chair would be created in Johannesburg University in South Africa, the University of Malay in Malaysia and Oxford University in London and University of Jaffna in Sri Lanka, for which Rs 5 crore will be given each year.

“Tamil is the mother of all languages. To develop and promote it further, the government will allocate Rs 5 crore annually for instituting Tamil chairs in countries where the population of Tamil speaking people is significant,” the CM said.

He also reportedly announced that a World Tamil Organisation conference would be held every alternate year to promote Tamil culture, art etc among expats, and also allocated Rs 5 crore for the purpose.

According to the New Indian Express, he also announced that a word bank for Tamil would be created at a cost of Rs 1 crore, in which Tamil words would be categorised.

For 15 students pursuing their first and second year of the Master of Arts program at the International Institute of Tamil Studies, he announced a stipend of Rs 2,000.

Last year, the Tamil Nadu government had sanctioned Rs 10 crore for the creation of Tamil Chair at Harvard University, which came after two Tamilians based in the United States approached former CM J Jayalalithaa over the matter. She had then included this funding as part of her poll promises in 2016.