Harvard University has approved the request of two NRI Tamil doctors, Janakiraman and Thirugnanasambandam, to set up a Tamil chair. According to a report in The Hindu, DMK leader M Karunanidhi now wants the state government to help them set it up.

Apparently, the cost of setting up the Tamil chair at Harvard is US$ 6 million. Janakiraman and Thirugnanasambandam will be contributing US$ 1 million but the remaining US$5 million needs to be raised. They have reached out to the Tamil community in the United States to raise the funds.

Karunandhi has stated that Tamil is a language spoken by over 80 million people and thus imperative to have a chair at Harvard states the report.