President Pranab Mukherjee today presented the 'Presidential Awards for Classical Tamil' for the year 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan. <br/><br/>The Tholkappiyar Award for lifetime achievement in classical Tamil was awarded to Dr S N Kandaswamy, Dr A Dakshinamurthy and Dr R Kalaikkovan. <br/><br/>Young scholar awards were conferred on 15 persons. The awards were given to them for showing excellence and promise in teaching, research and publication in classical Tamil.<br/><br/>While the Tholkappiyar awardees were presented with a citation, shawl and a cash prize of 5 lakh rupees, the young scholar awardees received citation and 1 lakh rupees.<br/><br/>The awards have been instituted by the Central Institute of Classical Tamil functioning under the aegis of Ministry of Human Resource Development.