The State government has issued orders for establishing the ‘Tholkappiar Ulaga Thamizh Semmozhi Sangam' (Tholkappiar World Classical Tamil Sangam) in Madurai and allotted Rs.100 crore, said M. Rajendran, Vice-Chancellor, Tamil University, here on Wednesday.
“This follows the announcement made by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi at the World Classical Tamil Conference held in Coimbatore between June 23 and 27,” Mr. Rajendran told The Hindu .
Mr. Karunanidhi will be the chairman of the Sangam and Mr. Rajendran, secretary.
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A 14-member general council and a seven-member executive council will also be constituted.
The general council will have the following members: two Tamil scholars from Tamil Nadu, two Tamil scholars from other States, two members from Tamil research organisations, two Tamil scholars from other countries, one scholar doing Dravidian research from another country (who is not a Tamil), one member from Tamil Sangams of India, one member from Tamil Sangams in other countries and a director to oversee day-to-day operations.
The government in its order has stated that the fund of Rs.100 crore should be kept as corpus. Of it, Rs.75 crore should be under interest-bearing category. From Rs.25 crore under non interest-bearing category, infrastructure for the sangam can be developed.
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Interest-bearing fund should be used for Tamil development activities as announced by the Chief Minister at the World classical Tamil conference.
The government will provide nine per cent interest as a special category for Rs.75 crore. Orders have been issued for appointing one professor, two assistant professors, two research scholars, one assistant, one typist and one office assistant.