Presidential awards for classical Tamil

President Pranab Mukherjee presented the ‘Presidential Awards for Classical Tamil’ for the year 2009-10 and 2010-11 at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan here 9th October. While the Tolkappiyar Award for lifetime achievement in classical Tamil was awarded to Dr. Iravatham Mahadevan and Prof. Tamizhannal Periakaruppan for 2009-10 and 2010-11 respectively, the Kural Pitam Award was given to Dr. Jaroslav Vacek and Dr. John Ralston Marr. The awards have been instituted by the Central Institute of Classical Tamil functioning under the aegis of Ministry of Human Resource Development.