Corporation to gift gold rings to babies who are given Tamil names

Thursday, 04 June 2009 06:33 administrator
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Source : The Hindu Date : 03.06.2009

Corporation to gift gold rings to babies who are given Tamil names

Staff Reporter

Photo: Chennai Corporation

EXHAUSTIVE RANGE: Mayor M.Subramanian displays a book of Tamil names for children at a press meet in Chennai on Tuesday.

CHENNAI: Chennai Corporation on Tuesday announced that it will give one-gram gold ring each to babies born in Corporation maternity hospitals if they are given Tamil names.

Addressing presspersons, Mayor M. Subramanian said, “The scheme would come into force at 6 a.m. on Wednesday and was being launched to mark the birthday of Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi.”

The scheme figured in the civic body’s 2009-2010 budget as a measure to encourage people to give Tamil names to their babies.

A panel of experts in Tamil would be formed to decide on the names eligible for the gold rings, said Mr. Subramanian. It would meet every 15 days and declare the names eligible. The distribution of gold rings would be carried out by the officials of the civic body every 15 days, said Mr. Subramanian. The officials will be given material on Tamil names.

Mr. Subramanian said that many of the people whose mother tongue is Tamil were reluctant to have Tamil names for their children. But people who speak other languages were keen to have names in their own mother tongues, he said.

The Corporation has taken measures to issue birth certificates free of cost within 24 hours of birth of a baby, the Mayor said.

Maternity hospitals run by the civic body have been modernised and they provide free services to the weaker sections, he added.

Disposable maternity kits would be provided to maternity hospitals. Around 15,000 babies are born in Corporation maternity hospitals every year, said Mr. Subramanian.

A total of 11,367 babies have been given gift packs under a scheme announced last September.

Last Updated on Thursday, 04 June 2009 12:35