Tamil Nadu Government Increased Allocated Budget from Rs.5 Crore to Rs.10 Crore to Promote Literature Festivals

The State Government has increased its funding for events to promote literary festivals from 5 crores to 10 crores, according to Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan.

on Mar 27, 2023

Tamil Nadu Government Increased Allocated Budget from Rs.5 Crore to Rs.10 Crore to Promote Literature Festivals

Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozh, minister of school education, asserted that literature could influence people's thoughts and effect change.

Addressing the Vaigai Literary Festival, which kicked off here on Sunday, he said that five literary festivals were being hosted across the State on the orders of Chief Minister M. K. Stalin, wherein literary greats will engage with teachers and students.

According to him, this event honors not only the writers but also the literary creations.

Madurai was the first district outside of Chennai to have a book fair, according to Minister for Registration P. Moorthi. Similarly, a decade ago, the Mamadurai festival paved the way for the government to host literary festivals.

The State Government has increased its funding for events to promote literary festivals from 5 crores to 10 crores, according to Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan.

On eight hillocks in the district, at least 16 Tamil Brahmi inscriptions that demonstrated the antiquity of the Tamil language and Madurai were discovered, according to famous epigraphist V. Vedachalam, who spoke at the event. "Just as 1,000-year-old temples were designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites to conserve them, it is vital to protect the more than 2,000-year-old inscriptions," he added.

"While these inscriptions have a religious theme, it is important to look at them objectively in order to preserve the evidence for the Tamil language's antiquity. According to Mr. Vedachalam, this set of hills should be designated as a global heritage site.

Su Venkatesan, a Madurai MP who spoke at the festival in response to his comments, stated that he had previously brought up the matter with the Center. The MP said, "I have been reminding the Centre of this."

In addition, he accepted the necessity of archaeological excavation in the Center of Madurai city to offer a rationale for the city's antiquity.

To demonstrate that Tamil civilization and culture were as old as described in the literature, he added, "We begged with the previous AIADMK administration to allot at least a minimum of 10 square feet near Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple."

He anticipated getting such approval to start digging in the city.

Virudhunagar Collector V. P. Jayaseelan, who spoke at the event, claimed that regional Tamil dialects have a distinctive vocabulary that expresses the sentiments of the local population. He said that contemporary literature from the previous three decades could vividly depict everyday life. If such a writing style had existed, it would have shed more light on Tamil civilization.

K. Elambahavat, the director of public libraries, S. Aneesh Sekhar, the collector of Madurai, and S. Saravanan, the project director for the DRDA, were among those who spoke.