Proposals to create an internet-based effort to preserve in digital form of Tamil cultural heritage-related materials have been discussed for few years in Tamil.net and Project Madurai mailing lists. After some brain-storming with few interested parties (N. Kannan, K. Kalyanasundaram, Subashini Kanagasundaram, Arun Mahizhnan, Muthu Nedumaran to name a few), a concrete proposal outlining specific tasks to be undertaken in the form of "tamiz marapu" project was drafted early this year. Search for possible sponsor(s) was also underway for few months. When the first opportunity to present the case to a global audience came via TI2001, Dr. N. Kannan made a strong plea for this in his talk. Digitization of rapidly decayaing palm-leaf manuscripts was cited as a typical example where urgent efforts are needed. Dato Seri Samy Vellu (Minister for Works, Malaysia), who was in the audience, reacted instantly by offering an immediate grant of US$10,000 on behalf of Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) for the establishment of Tamil Heritage Foundation.



Designed by: Suba