The Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT), established by the Government of India with a view to promoting the cause of Classical Tamil, has been functioning at Chennai since 19 May 2008.

The Institute has mapped out various plans:

• Preparation of definitive editions of forty-one Classical Tamil texts
• Translation of those works into English and other major European languages as well as into many leading Indian languages
• Making of visual episodes on classical Tamil language, literature, epigraphy and architecture
• Development of material for the online teaching of Tamil
• Writing of a historical grammar of Tamil
• Undertaking diachronic and synchronic studies of Tamil dialects
• Creation of a corpus of classical Tamil texts
• Establishment of a digital library
• Comparative Study of Tamil, Dravidian and other family of languages
• Promotion of multidisciplinary research in classical Tamil

All of these will address the antiquity and uniqueness of Tamil.