Prez, Sonia, PM to be invited for Tamil meet

Coimbatore, Nov. 6: Chief minister M. Karunanidhi on Friday said that the line up of the dignitaries for the ninth World Tamil conference to be held in Coimbatore for three days from June 24 was being finalised. The plan was to invite the President, Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh and the Congress President, Sonia Gandhi. Preparations for the massive event were underway with several district collectors supervising the same.

Addressing a press conference here, the chief minister said he was looking forward to the World Tamil conference as it would bring the Tamil diaspora on a single platform. The conference he hoped would also create a platform for a comprehensive Nanool, the Tamil grammar book.

The chief minister dismissed AIADMK leader J. Jayalalithaa’s allegation that the government was responsible for the lawyers-police clash case in Chennai. He said, “There is no direct charge against the government or its ministers in this issue.”

The chief minister was hopeful of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees here getting Indian citizenship soon as the matter was being scrutinised for legal implications.

The chief minister at the farm conference appealed to the farm scientists to help increase agricultural production further.

“Although we have attained a good position in the production of food grains especially rice and millets, production of oil-seeds and pulses need improvement. And to achieve this, the scientists of the KVKs should help the farmers adopt latest technologies in agriculture.”

“The government is providing 50 per cent of the insurance premium as subsidy for the farmers from 2006 and a sum of Rs 652 crore has been sanctioned to over 5 lakh farmers for crop loss caused due to natural calamities,” he added.