Technical courses should be taught in Tamil, says guv
Chennai: Governor R N Ravi on Saturday said technical courses in Tamil Nadu should be taught in Tamil and not English. He interacted with Tamil scholars as part of his 'Think to Dare' series at Raj Bhavan in which he spoke about the repression faced by Tamils during British rule and its revival.
"Tamil, an ancient and rich language, suffered enormously during British rule. It was a deliberate attempt by the British to downgrade the mother tongues of the country. They destroyed our indigenous education system, industry, devastated our agriculture by heavy taxation making it unaffordable for farmers to continue agriculture," Ravi said.
Speaking about the impact of the British education system on Tamil, Ravi said, "In the English education system, the schools in which they set up didn't encourage Tamil.
The schools were mainly set up to infuse a sense of inferiority among us and to choose their education system. Through their education system they started to teach what they wanted us to learn."
Ravi said the Swadeshi movement helped Tamil's revival. "Only the Swadeshi movement initiated the revival of Tamil language through poets and Tamil enthusiasts such as Bharathiyar and T K Chidambaranatha Mudhaliar who carried out a virulent campaign against leaders speaking in English," he said.
Follow more information on
Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad here
. Get
real-time live updates
on rescue operations and check
full list of passengers onboard AI 171
.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hans India
22 minutes ago
- Hans India
Missing soul in Bharat's constitution: Forgotten legacy
On February 11, 2025, the usually calm Rajya Sabha witnessed an unusual uproar. Parliamentarian Radha Mohan Das Agrawal startled the House by revealing that most printed copies of the Bharatiya Constitution from students' textbooks to ceremonial editions have quietly dropped 22 exquisite illustrations that originally adorned the handwritten manuscript signed in 1950. Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar backed this concern, declaring that any version of the Constitution that excludes these images is incomplete and inauthentic. He urged immediate steps to ensure that only illustrated versions, faithful to the framers' vision, are circulated, cautioning that any changes introduced without parliamentary approval amount to a betrayal of the country's heritage. Why did these images vanish? To grasp the gravity of what was lost, one must revisit a remarkable but often overlooked chapter of the country's freedom struggle: the making of a Constitution that was a legal manuscript, also a visual narrative of India's 5,000-year civilizational journey. Masterpiece Born at Santiniketan When leaders of Bharat drafted the Constitution after independence, they envisioned it as far more than a set of rules it was to be a living testament to Bharat's cultural continuity. To bring this vision alive, they turned to Nandalal Bose, revered as a father of modern Bharat art and principal of Kala Bhavan at Santiniketan, Rabindranath Tagore's art school. Bose, a pioneer of the Bengal School, accepted the task to illustrate the entire Constitution page by page with motifs, borders, and miniatures depicting the sweep of Indian history, philosophy, and art. Bose has handpicked a group of young, talented artists from Kala Bhavan to help transform parchment into a civilizational scroll. Together, this collective produced a manuscript unlike any other constitution in the world. Unsung Heroes Behind the Brush The ensemble that gave visual life to Bharat's Constitution included names that deserve national reverence: l Beohar Rammanohar Sinha, whose journeys to Ajanta, Ellora, Sanchi, and Mahabalipuram inspired the lotus motifs, Ashoka lions, and animal figures. He painted the iconic Preamble page, signed simply as 'Ram'. l Dinanath Bhargava, who as a young student at Santiniketan visited the Kolkata Zoo daily to study lions up close. His sketches became the model for India's official National Emblem — the Lion Capital of Ashoka at Sarnath. l Prem Behari Narayan Raizada, master calligrapher who handwrote the entire English manuscript in elegant italic script, using hundreds of pen nibs over six painstaking months. l Vasant K. Vaidya, who calligraphed the Hindi version in the flowing Devanagari script. l Jamuna Sen, Bose's daughter, who painted scenes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata and popularised batik and alpona motifs. l Amala Sarkar, Gouri Bhanja, Bani Patel, Kripal Singh Shekhawat, A. Perumal, Nibedita Bose, and others who painted historical scenes, court scenes, legendary heroes, Buddhist monks, temples, and landscapes. This was more than decorative effort. Every page carried thoughtful symbolism, reminding readers that the new republic was rooted in ancient wisdom yet looking forward. Journey Through Bharat's Heritage The original Constitution opens with the Lion Capital and Bharat's national motto: Satyameva Jayate (Truth Alone Triumphs). As one turns the manuscript, each Part begins with a miniature capturing India's timeline: l A bull seal from Mohenjo-Daro introduces Part I — connecting the republic with the Harappan civilization. l A Vedic ashram illustrates Citizenship — invoking learning and social duty. l Scenes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata frame Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles — evoking dharma, justice, and wisdom. l Buddha's first sermon, Mahavira's meditation, Ashoka spreading Buddhism, and Chola bronzes show India's spiritual pluralism. l Mughal court scenes, King Vikramaditya's darbar, portraits of Lakshmibai, Chattrapati Shivaji, and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose narrate the stories of courage, resistance, and cultural patronage. l Natural scenes — Himalayas, deserts, rivers, ocean voyages — remind readers of country's diverse geography and the mobility of its people. These illustrations were more than art: they were political statements of unity in diversity, cultural memory, and civilizational pride. How We Lost It: The Printed Simplification For practical reasons, when the Constitution was printed and distributed for everyday use in courts, schools, and parliament the lush handmade illustrations were dropped. Printing technology of the 1950s could not easily reproduce delicate watercolours and gold leaf patterns at scale. Instead, plain text editions proliferated, slowly standardizing a version of the Constitution stripped of its visual soul. Over time, very few Indians even knew that their supreme law was once a hand-painted manuscript. Even ceremonial versions often use reprinted facsimiles with partial or stylized artwork, not always the full set of original miniatures. Heritage Rediscovered — But Still Missing The recent uproar in Parliament reflects a wider cultural anxiety: when the images of Ram, Krishna, Buddha, Mahavir, and the freedom fighters disappear from official copies, is it just an aesthetic loss — or a deeper break from the vision of the founding generation? Scholars and cultural historians argue that this is not just about 'decoration'. These motifs were meant to remind lawmakers, judges, and citizens that Indian law flows from a moral and cultural continuum, not a sterile legal code borrowed from the West. Calls to Restore the Visual Legacy Institutions like the Lalit Kala Akademi have documented the full manuscript in detail — the 2024 publication Art & Calligraphy in the Constitution of India is a timely tribute. Digital archives now exist, but the controversy has sparked calls for wider public access to high-fidelity facsimiles, inclusion of illustrations in school editions, and traveling exhibitions to reconnect citizens with this treasure. Vice-President Dhankhar's intervention signals an official push to honor this legacy. Whether politics allows such restoration is another question but the issue has succeeded in reminding a new generation that India's Constitution is not just a rulebook, but a piece of living art. A Living Scroll of Civilizational Memory As Bharat nears eight decades of independence, perhaps it is time to ask: how many more generations will study the Constitution as a dry document, unaware that its very pages were painted with the stories of Ram, Krishna, Buddha, Chattrapati Shivaji, Laxmibai, and a thousand unnamed ancestors? The framers knew a modern nation needs continuity with its past. Restoring the missing miniatures is more than an artistic footnote — it is an act of civilizational respect. In a time of rapid change and cultural flux, the Constitution's art reminds us: we are many stories, one people.
Hindustan Times
25 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
‘Will look into all theories behind crash': Aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu
New Delhi: The government will look into all possible theories of what could have caused the Air India plane crash this week, aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu said on Saturday during the government's first briefing into the tragedy on Thursday – the deadliest of its kind in three decades. Naidu said the Centre has also set up a high-level multi-disciplinary panel to ascertain the 'root cause' of the crash of the London-bound Air India flight 171 in Ahmedabad and assess any contributing factors including mechanical failure, human error and regulatory compliances, in addition to the probe conducted by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (AAIB). The panel, headed by Union home secretary Govind Mohan, was mandated to give its report in three months, Naidu said. Separately, officials said India is also exploring plans to create a new 'aviation safety board' on the lines of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), an American agency that has a wide remit to probe accidents, including the aviation sector. One of these officials said the new aviation safety board will likely supervise other regulators in the sector, such as the director general of civil aviation (DGCA). The plan involves the collaboration of ministries of civil aviation and home and it is likely to be discussed in the meeting of the committee headed by the home secretary. 'The officials are discussing and trying to decide exactly what the responsibilities and limits of the safety board will have,' one of these officials said, adding that the scrutiny could extend to the policies and regulations of DGCA. A second official added: 'These (discussions on the constitution of the board) are initial talks and are aimed for the future. It will not be associated with the DGCA.' To be sure, the AAIB is an independent aviation safety body, empowered with the ability to make recommendations for future safety. But the AAIB's remit does not cover scrutiny of DGCA policies. The first person quoted above said that one of the proposals is also to bring in transparency in aviation accident data and create a system like the NTSB's docket. 'There are autonomous bodies as safety boards. A need for a national safety board, legal autonomy, funding and international credibility is being discussed,' the second official said. A former official associated with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a specialised agency of the United Nations that sets international rules and standards for civil aviation, said: 'There is no standard structure of a safety board in India and the need for having it has been discussed in the past,' he said. Officials said that while discussions have just begun, 'It has to be seen what form does it take in the country: as a judicial authority or quasi-judicial or recommendatory nature'.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Ahmedabad plane crash: No DNA match yet for ex-Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani, says hospital official; 12 bodies handed over to families so far
NEW DELHI: Authorities have not yet been able to identify the remains of former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani , who was among the 241 passengers killed in Thursday's Air India Flight 171 crash. Dr Rajnish Patel, additional medical superintendent at Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad, confirmed on Sunday, 'We have not yet found a DNA match for the former CM Vijay Rupani.' So far, 31 victims have been identified through DNA testing and 12 bodies handed over to families — including passengers from Udaipur, Kheda, Vadodara, Visnagar and Ahmedabad. The delay in identification has prolonged the wait for Rupani's family and supporters, even as Rajkot — his hometown — observed a half-day shutdown on Saturday to mourn his death. Shops, businesses and around 600 private and grant-in-aid schools remained shut till afternoon following an appeal by the Rajkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Rupani, a two-time chief minister who served from 2016 to 2021, was also the BJP's in-charge for Punjab. He was travelling to London aboard AI-171, a Boeing Dreamliner that crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad airport. Follow more information on Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad here . Get real-time live updates on rescue operations and check full list of passengers onboard AI 171 .
