The University of Madras is planning to translate its Act manuals and statutes to the Tamil language, to encourage more students to study its history and do research on it. Vice-Chancellor S Gowri has given a proposal for the project during the recent senate meeting.
“It is my prolonged desire to get the Act manuals and statutes of the university translated to Tamil. It will help many Tamil scholars to get access to the content of the statutes of this historic university, and do research on it,” said the V-C.
The Tamil department of the university is expected to carry out the project with the help of students from English and other departments. However, a final decision regarding the project will only be taken after getting approval from the senate.
“After getting the approval, a roadmap will be chalked out on how to move forward with the project,” Gowri said. Officials said the statutes, manuals, and ordinances of the university are a treasure trove of information, which could excite many.
Also known as the mother of all South Indian universities, the Madras University was established in 1857 by an Act of Legislative Council of India. Later as research and pedagogy at the university gained momentum, the Madras University Act of 1923 was enacted. There have been subsequent amendments on the Act, and several statutes have also been enacted.
“A thorough study of these documents will bring out many historical and interesting facts to the fore. Our youth should study it. Translating these documents to Tamil will definitely widen its accessibility among Tamil medium students,” said a faculty of the university.