The State government has increased from ₹50,000 to ₹1 lakh the yearly financial assistance provided to nine Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe authors and two non SC/ST authors to publish their literary works. The government has, however, made it clear that the assistance would be provided only to Tamil publications or works translated in Tamil.
According to the latest government order, the works eligible for assistance, from 2022-23, would be selected by a panel headed by the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department Secretary. Adi Dravidar Welfare Commissioner would be the member secretary of the expert committee and it would also consist of two Tamil professors as its members.
Story books, a compendium of articles or poems, historic accounts and such other works would be eligible for the assistance. M.Phil., and doctorate research papers would not be eligible for the assistance unless they were of exceptional value. Applications for it could be uploaded online every year through the Adi Dravidar Welfare Department website.
Authors selected for the assistance should publish their works in the format of a book containing 90 pages and print at least 1,000 copies within three months though the government would reserve the right to reduce the number of copies. The authors would be given 50% of the assistance in advance and the rest after the publication.
A minimum of 10 copies of the published work must be given to the government and books that had already been released in the market would not be eligible for the assistance. Though there would not be any age limit for the applicants, authors selected for the assistance once could apply next only after a gap of five years.
While the assistance would be given to nine individuals belonging to Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes including those who had converted to Christianity, it would also be offered to two more individuals who do not belong either to the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes but had written about issues faced by them.
Advocate Karl Marx Siddharthar, a recipient of the assistance this year, welcomed the increase in the financial assistance and the changes made to the selection process. He, however, was disappointed over the government not having accepted his request to provide the assistance even to works that had been written in English.
Pointing out that the Tamil Nadu State Commission for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes had found force in his request and made an official recommendation to the State government for providing the assistance to English works too, he hoped the government would consider the request at least in future.
