CHENNAI: Eminent Tamil scholar V Padhumanar and historian AR Venkatachalapathy were honoured with the Mahavidwan Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai Award and the Dr U.Ve. Swaminatha Iyer Award, respectively, at a function organised by the Dr U.Ve. Swaminatha Iyer Library at Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Chennai, on Tuesday. Padhumanar was awarded for his contribution to the Tamil language, while Venkatachalapathy’s award was for his contribution to Tamil history and research.

G Viswanathan, chairman of the library, and founder-chancellor of VIT, and GV Selvam, vice-president of VIT, were present.

Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker JCD Prabhakar, who was the chief guest, presented the awards, citations and cash prizes at the function. He also released a book on Nannool, with Selvam receiving the first copy.

Speaking at the function, he said that the time had come for a renaissance of the Tamil language and noted that the state government was taking steps for its development. “We have to work more to develop Tamil and take it to a larger public. I’ve conducted several meetings in my Assembly constituency to promote Tamil and take the language to a much larger youth population,” he said.

Viswanathan called upon political parties in Tamil Nadu to work together for the development of the state and the country. Referring to the political systems of Nordic countries such as Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, he pointed to the political parties there that cooperated on issues concerning national development. He also stressed the need to strengthen democratic values and institutions in India.

Y Manikandan, former head, Department of Tamil, University of Madras; S Avudaiyappan, founder of Porunai Pakangal; and Sivalayam J. Mohan, vice-chairman, Dr U.Ve. Swaminatha Iyer Library, also spoke at the function.