The Tamil Nadu Government has decided to declare Tamil month Thai 1 as the Tamil New Year Day, Governor S S Barnala announced in the State Assembly.
In his address at the commencement of the seventh session of the Assembly, the Governor said that the decision was taken in view of the consensus among Tamil scholars that the first day of the Tamil month, Thai, was the first day of the Tamil year.
At present, Tamil New Year Day is celebrated as per a calendar, which names all the 60 years, that comes in a cycle, in Sanskrit.
The move is also in accordance with the policy of the Dravidian movement, which aims to remove traces of Brahminical culture and revive Tamil culture.