N. Kirubakaran, J.

What is the use of conducting World Tamil Conferences spending crores and crores of rupees, without serving for the cause of the language and what is the use of calling Tamil as a Classical Language, unless it is passed on to the next generation by Tamils?

2. Tamil is an ancient classical language, which has got a rich heritage and literature. The well-known Sangam Literature dates back to 300 BC to AD 300. The earliest Tamil literature, Tholgappiyam, which is an early work on Tamil Grammar and Poetics, dates back to 1st century B.C. Tamil Brahmi inscriptions from 500 B.C. have been found in Aadichanallur in Tamil Nadu and a 2200 year old Tamil Brahmi inscriptions have been found located at Samanamalai. It is being said that Tamil was nurtured and developed by Pandya Kings by establishment of three Sangams, where Tamil poets and Tamil Scholars used to assemble, discuss, deliberate and research about the literature for the development of Tamil language. The two earliest manuscripts from India, acknowledged and registered by UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 1997 and 2005 were written in Tamil. What has been registered by UNESCO in 2005 are saiva manuscripts, namely, 11,000 palm leaflets and paper manuscripts in Tamil dating from 6th century A.D. to the start of colonial period, are kept at the French Institute of Pondicherry. More than 55% of the epigraphical inscriptions (about 55,000/-) found by the Archaelogical Survey of India are in Tamil language. Tamil language inscriptions written in Brahmi script have been discovered in Srilanka, Thailand and Egypt. An Archaeological team from University of Southampton, United Kingdom, comprising Professor D. Peacock and Dr.L. Blue re-opened excavations at Quseir-al-Qadim, an ancient Port with Roman settlement on the Red Sea Coast of Egypt and found broken storage jar with inscriptions in Tamil Brahmi script, which has been dated to 1st century B.C.

3. Tamil is the official language of Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Andaman and Nicobar Islands and one of the languages listed under the VIII Schedule of the Constitution of India. It is also one of the national and official languages of Srilanka along with Sinhalese. As per Section 7 of the Republic of Singapore Independence Act, Tamil is one of the official languages of Singapore along with Malai, Mandarin and English. In Singapore and Malaysia, Tamil is taught in primary and secondary school levels. In fact, in Ontario, Canada, the month of January has been declared as "Tamil Heritage Month" by passing "Heritage Month Act, 2014" by Ontario Government. It is the 15th widely spoken languages in the world and approximately 1% of world population speak Tamil. Tamil Diaspora is spread all over the world, namely, Malaysis, Singapore, Srilanks, Mauritius, Indonesia, Figi, ReUnion South Africa, Myanmar (Burma) and Trinidad. Apart from that, Srilankan Tamils, who got settled in various countries like United States of America, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Netherlands, France, are evincing keen interest to teach Tamil to their children. Whereas, in the State of Tamil Nadu, Tamil is not passed on to the next generation.

4. Here is a person, who has come before this Court to make his contribution for the development of Tamil, in a small way. His grievance is that though Tamil has been declared as a classical language, it is not widespread and well-known outside the State of Tamil Nadu. Hence, he gave a representation to the respondents to take all necessary steps to teach Tamil language through correspondence course to Non-Tamils. In the representation, he pointed out that the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development is offering Hindi Certificate and Diploma Correspondence Course, at a nominal cost of Rs.50/- to Rs.200/- respectively for all Indians, whose mother tongue is not Hindi as well as to foreigners and Non-Resident Indians. The said representation was given on 16.03.2013. The Deputy Secretary, Tamil Developm