Home minister P Chidambaram today urged Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi to allocate Rs 10 crore annually as incentive for writing and releasing new Tamil books, particularly in education.
"Since writing and publishing a book would cost a minimum of Rs 10 lakh, it will be difficult for authors to come out with new releases, fearing that there would be no demand...To facilitate bringing out good books in Tamil on various topics, the (state) government should announce an incentive of Rs 10 crore per year," Chidambaram said at the valedictory function of the five-day World Classical Tamil Conference here.
He said students have claimed there were no Tamil books in subjects like literature, medical, scientific and technical, computer and mathematics fields, whereas authors say there are no (rpt) no takers for such books.
The minister also urged people, particularly children, to speak in Tamil "so that this living language would continue to live for many more years. parents should at least make it a point to converse in Tamil with their children".