Overview
- Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin unveiled a portrait of E. V. Ramasamy Periyar at Oxford’s St Antony’s College on September 4 during a centenary conference on the Self-Respect Movement.
- Stalin called the unveiling the greatest honour of his life, described himself as Periyar’s “grandson in ideals,” and urged countries to adopt reservation-style affirmative action for marginalised groups.
- He released academic works including The Cambridge Companion to Periyar, highlighting efforts to internationalise the reformer’s ideas through scholarly publication.
- The U.K. leg of his TN Rising tour produced six agreements, including Wilson Power’s Rs 300 crore transformer unit with about 543 jobs and Britannia RFID’s Rs 520 crore facilities adding roughly 550 jobs.
- Rolls‑Royce confirmed plans to expand operations in Tamil Nadu, Lloyd’s List will add 200 jobs at its Chennai capability centre, and new education tie‑ups include an Ecole Intuit Lab design school in Coimbatore and a University of Exeter collaboration; Stalin also met UK minister Catherine West to discuss green economy, skills, higher education and maritime links.