Invoking renowned nationalist poet Bharathiyar at the poets' festival here, former President APJ Abdul Kalam said Bharathi had written about the concept of interlinking of rivers in his poems several years ago. Kalam hailed the Modi government for taking up the project and allocating 100 crore for it in the recently announced Union budget.
"Mahakavi Subramania Bharathiyar raised his voice a hundred years ago for interlinking rivers. Now the Union government has sanctioned 100 crore for the project. Bharathi's dream is becoming a reality now. Interlinking of rivers is the solution for water scarcity and it will help improve agriculture across the country," said Abdul Kalam.
He also said that Thiruvalluvar, UV Swaminatha Iyyer, G U Pope and Mahakavi Bharathi have greatly contributed to Tamil language. Thiruvalluvar explained about the life and rules in Thirukkural 2,000 years ago. Traditional poems were written in palm leaves and they were not preserved. Swaminatha Iyyer collected these poems and printed them for coming generations. GU Pope translated several Tamil texts to English, he said.
"Socio-economic gap between cities and villages should be reduced and all should get drinking water by 2020. Agriculture, industry and service sectors should work together for the development of our nation. Every one should get quality education and healthcare. India should be corruption free country by 2020," he said. Addressing the gathering, lyricist Vairamuthu said Tamil is a language that taught civilization to the world 2000 years ago. Tamil has a vital role in the world civilization. Tamil writers have raised voice against caste system since the beginning," said Vairamuthu.
He also said that Unesco has announced Tamil as one of the eight endangered languages. Latin, Hebrew and Sanskrit have become extinct, adding that Tamil is still a living language.
"If Tamil people are not interested in promoting their mother tongue, the language will die soon," said Vairamuthu.
Madras high court judge Vimala, and Malaysian deputy minister for youths and sports Dutho M Saravanan, from Malaysia also attended the meeting.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/coimbatore/Kalam-praises-Centres-river-linking-project/articleshow/38410371.cms
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