Singapore Tamils who majorly came from the
South India
South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territ ...
n
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
of
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...
and the
union territory Puducherry Puducherry or Pondicherry may refer to:
* Puducherry (union territory), a union territory of India
** Pondicherry, capital of the union territory of Puducherry
** Puducherry district, a district of the union territory of Puducherry
** Puducherry t ...
and some people are also from
Sri Lanka. Singapore has emerged as the most preferred destination among migrants from Tamil Nadu. A study has revealed that 410,000 of the 2.2 million
Tamil Nadu diaspora
The Tamil Nadu diaspora ( ta, அயலகத் தமிழர் (''Ayalakat Tamiļar'')) comprises people who have emigrated from South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, (and other adjacent Tamil speaking areas) to other non-Tamil Indian states an ...
were residing in Singapore in 2015.
Status
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
is one of the four official
languages of Singapore
A multitude of languages are used in Singapore. It consists of several varieties of languages under the families of the Austronesian languages, Dravidian languages, Indo-European languages and Sino-Tibetan languages. According to the Cons ...
. Tamil is taught as a second language in most government schools from primary to junior college levels. Tamil is an examinable subject at all major nationwide exams. There is a daily Tamil newspaper printed in Singapore, ''
Tamil Murasu
''Tamil Murasu'' ( ta, தமிழ் முரசு) is a Singapore-based Tamil-language newspaper. Launched in 1935 by Thamizhavel G. Sarangapani, Tamil Murasu is Singapore's only Tamil-language newspaper. It is one of the sixteen newspape ...
''. There is a full-time radio station, ''
Oli 96.8FM'', and a full-fledged television channel, ''
Vasantham''.
Little India
Little India, Singapore
Little India ( ta, லிட்டில் இந்தியா) is an ethnic district in Singapore. It is located east of the Singapore River – across from Chinatown, located west of the river – and north of Kampong Glam. Both areas ...
is an ethnic place of Indians located in the east of Singapore and mostly follows the Tamil cultural heritage system.
See also
*
Indian Singaporeans
Indian Singaporeans (Tamil: ') are Singaporeans of Indian or South Asian ancestry, who constitute 9.0% of the country's citizens, making them the third largest ancestry and ethnic group in Singapore.
While contact with ancient India left a d ...
*
Tamil diaspora
The Tamil diaspora refers to descendants of the Tamil immigrants who emigrated from their native lands (Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Sri Lanka) to other parts of the world. They are found primarily in Malaysia, Arab states of the Persian Gulf, ...
References
{{Indian diaspora
Ethnic groups in Singapore