Pongal and New Year

I cannot believe that anybody wanted that Pongal day should be the Tamil New Year to say that now, a longstanding desire of many people has been realised. The Govt said that many scholars were consulted before making the change and now the High Court also has said that an elected Govt can make such changes. I do not believe either. The Govt could have started a new era (sakaaptham) like Salivahana Sakaptham and named it after Kalaignar instead of interfering with a traditioanal practice. When a New Year starts we must hae a number or name to identify it. In the Christian calendar, we have the numbers and this is followed world wide and in Hindu calendar we have the names. I suppose it will not be long before a new calendar is started as Kalignar Aandu No.1. What will happen to this when a new Govt is formed ? This is nothing but arragance that whatever the TN Govt says will not be questioned by the Centre or anybody and the judiciary is under the Govt's influence, whatever the method. I am sure that even in the other Southern States (Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada) which are also called Dravidian, the New Year starts with the Sun in Mesham though, the Telugu calendar is based on the Moon's position.and their New Year Yugadi comes about 15 days before the Tamil New Year on Chithirai 1st.

-Ramakrishnan.