Tamil Culture

Let us translate all great literature of the world
into Tamil;
And bring forth new books of immortal fame
in Tamil itself.
- People’s Poet Bharathi

Introduction
Tamil Language with its antiquity and glory is now recognized as one of
the classical languages like Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Chinese and Arabian, even
after many thousands of years, Tamil is a young and living language, being
spoken language of Tamils living in many countries all over the world. Many
classical languages have become obsolete but Tamil is distinct as one of the
few living languages.
The Tamil scholar, Pavalareu Perunchithiranar has commented upon
the universal glory of the Tamil language and said, "Foreign linguists, while
appreciating specific characteristics of other languages like tradition in the
Japanese language, prose in French, versatility in German, beauty of words
in Italian, vocabulary in Greek, brevity and clarity in Latin, celebrate Tamil as
a language that has all these characteristics". Heeding the long term demand
of the Tamils to declare Tamil as a classical language, based on its ancient
richness and glory, the Government of India has notified Tamil as a classical
language in 2004.
People are capable of thinking rationally and expressing their emotions
and thoughts only in their own language. The administration, run for the
welfare of the common people, should be in their language. With this view,
the Tamil Official Language Act was enacted on 27.12.1956 in the Tamil Nadu
Legislative Assembly declaring Tamil as the Official language of Tamil Nadu.
The Official Language Implementation Committee was constituted by the
Government in the year 1957 to give suggestions regarding the implementation
of the Act. Since then the focus has been on the implementation of official
language scheme promoting the use of Tamil in Government administration.
A Special Officer was appointed to inspect and guide the implementation of
the Tamil official language scheme in government departments to enrich the
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glossary of administrative terms and to supervise the translation works of
codes and rules.
After the Official Language Committee was re-constituted as the Tamil
Development Department, steps have been taken by the State to improve the
usage of Tamil as Official Language in Government administration along with
the implementation of various schemes relating to the development of Tamil.
Action is also being taken to persuade the Central Government to declare
Tamil as one of its official languages, to promote the usage of Tamil in the day-
to-day functioning of the High court and to announce the Thirukkural as
national literature.
The department has been performing two major tasks, namely, Official
Language Implementation and the Development of Tamil. The following
activities have been carried out by the State regarding the implementation of
Official Language Scheme.
To conduct special inspection regarding the implementation of official
language scheme in all government offices
To conduct seminars in districts to create awareness regarding the
official language scheme.
Awarding prizes to the Government servants who write best drafts
and notes in Tamil.
Awarding shields and certificates to encourage those offices which
carryout all activities in Tamil.
To impart training to the Government staff in the official language
scheme.
To provide necessary translations for the implementation of the
official language scheme.
To publish books helpful for the implementation of official language.
The activities relating to Tamil development have been carried out as
follows:
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Financial assistance for the publication of Tamil Books.
Awarding Prizes for best Tamil books.
Financial Assistance for aged Tamil Scholars.
Financial Assistance for Tamil Stalwarts.
Awards to Tamil Scholars in the name of Thiruvalluvar, Thiru Vi.Ka,
Paventhar Bharathidasan, Bharathiyar, Ki.Aa.Pe. Viswanatham.
Celebration of birthdays and centenaries of Tamil Scholars
Establishing Tamil Chair in Universities in other states and financial
assistance to Universities and other organizations for development of
Tamil.
Nationalisation of books by famous Tamil scholars and sanctioning
the compensation amount to their families.
Preparing Digital Dictionary, Spell-Check and Grammar Check
Software in Tamil.
Translation of the best literary works of India and other countries
into Tamil.
Translation of Tamil literary works into Hindi.
Preparation of CDs on the specialities of the places mentioned in
Tamil Literature.
Preparation of ‘verbose’ on Tamil Literature.
Preparation of Encyclopedia on technical terms in Tamil
Publication of Encyclopedia on Thirukkural.
Production of documentary film on Tamil writers and scholars.