Government will consider memorials for Tamil scholars

The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News: "The Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, today said the Government will consider the requests made by members for setting up memorials for Tamil scholars including U.V. Swaminatha Iyer and Pandithurai Thevar.

Shortly after the Education Minister, C.Ve.Shanmugam, replied to the debate on the demand for grants to the Tamil Development-Culture department, members including V.K. Lakshmanan (Congress), V. Sivapunniayam (Communist Party of India), G.K. Mani (Pattali Makkal Katchi) and D. Sudarsanam (Congress), came out with suggestions on measures to perpetuate the memory of Tamil scholars and scientists, besides ensuring early completion of the etymological dictionary project.

Mr. Lakshmanan said the late Swaminatha Iyer played a major role in the retrieval of palm manuscripts of ancient Tamil literature including the ones belonging to the Sangam age.

Instead of merely garlanding his statue every year on his birth anniversary, the memory of the Tamil scholar, who was affectionately called `Thamizh Thaatha,' should be perpetuated for making the greatness of the classical language known to the world.

Mr. Sudarsanam pleaded with the Government to establish memorials for the famous scientists, C.V. Raman and Chandrasekar, who were students of the Presidency College in Chennai.

Mr. Sivapunniyam urged the Government to nationalise the works of Tamil scholar and doyen of the Communist movement in the State, P. Jeevanantham. A demand to establish a fitting memorial for Pandithurai Thevar, who founded the fourth Tamil Sangam in Madurai, was also raised in the House. "