Chennai, Nov 2:
Tamil Nadu will introduce a weekly traditional attire day across government offices, with ministers and employees required to wear traditional clothing on a designated day, School Education and Tamil Development Minister Rajmohan announced on Sunday.
The initiative, approved by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, is aimed at promoting Tamil culture and giving a boost to the State’s handloom sector.
Speaking at the Tamil Nadu Day celebrations held at the Government Museum in Egmore, Rajmohan said the dress code would cover the Secretariat and other government offices.
Men would wear a veshti and shirt, while women would wear sarees. The move is expected to make traditional attire a regular feature of the government workplace and encourage wider public adoption.
The minister also announced the formation of a Tamil Sangam at the Secretariat by bringing existing Tamil associations under a common umbrella. Chief Minister Vijay will head the organisation as its president.
The government will also organise World Tamil Conferences in different parts of the world to promote the language and its heritage.
Tamil-related competitions will be conducted in schools to encourage children to develop an interest in the language. The celebrations marked November 1, 1956, when the present-day State was formed following the reorganisation of States on linguistic lines.
The government has decided to observe November 1 as Tamil Nadu Day while continuing to retain July 18, which marks the renaming of Madras State as Tamil Nadu in 1967.