: Ahead of Pongal celebrations tomorrow, the state government today named nine scholars for receiving awards in honour of their work towards development of Tamil culture and literature.
Chief Minister O Panneerselvam announced the names of 'Thirukkural' K Bhaskaran (Tiruvalluvar Award), Dawood Gupta (Thanthai Periyar Award), Azhi K Mahalingam (Annal Ambedkar Award), Kasturi Raja (Anna Award), Karumuttu T Kannan (Perunthalaivar Kamarajar Award), Elasai Sundaram (Mahakavi Bharathiyar Award), Kanmathiyan (Pavendar Bharathidasan), Karu Nagarajan (Tamil Thendral Thiru Vi Ka Award) and A M James (Muthamizh Kavalar K A P Viswanathan Award) for these awards, an official release said.
The awards would be conferred on the recipients in a state function to be held at Museum Auditorium at Egmore on January 16, it said.
The award includes a cash prize of Rs one lakh, one sovereign gold medal and a citation, it said, adding financial assistance to 30 elderly Tamil scholars would also be given during the function.
