CHENNAI: On the eve of the 100th death anniversary of legendary poet and freedom fighter Subramania Bharathi, Chief Minister MK Stalin on Thursday announced 14 measures to honour his contributions to society.
The measures include publishing the manuscripts of Bharathi as a critical edition, honouring Tamil scholars who have done research on the works of Bharathi and making available the works of the poet to the younger generation.
The Chief Minister, in a statement here, recalled that way back in 1947, DMK founder and former Chief Minister CN Annadurai had described the late poet as Makkal Kavi (people’s poet). In 1973, former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi had turned Bharathi’s ancestral house at Ettayapuram as a memorial.
State govt to observe Mahakavi Day
1 The State government will observe the death anniversary of poet Subramania Bharathi as Mahakavi Day. Poetry competitions will be conducted at the State level for school and college students and Bharathi Youth Poet Award will be given to a boy and girl with Rs 1 lakh cash prize
2 Select poems and essays of Bharathi will be compiled into a volume titled Manathil Uruthi Vendum (Need for a Resolute Mind) and will be distributed to 37 lakh students at cost of Rs 10 crore
3 The families of Tamil scholars — P Thooran, RA Padmanabhan, TMC Raghunathan and Ilasai Manian — who have done research on Bharathi’s life and works, as well as Seeni Viswanathan and Y Manikandan will be honoured with a certificate and Rs 3 lakh each
4 Statues of Bharathi and the artefacts will be produced through Poompuhar and sold at concessional rates
5 Manuscripts of Bharathi will be gathered and published as a critical edition; besides, the poet’s works will be published in English
6 A music concert will be staged at Nehru Indoor stadium (after containing Corona infection completely) wherein Bharathi’s songs used in Tamil films will be sung
7 For the next one year, weekly programmes will be conducted at Bharathi Memorial in Chennai for one year to commemorate the centenary of Bharathi’s death anniversary
8 Financial assistance will be given to maintain the house at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh where Bharathi lived a century ago