The fourth legislative assembly of Madras state (3 March 1967 – 5 January 1971) was constituted in March 1967 after the assembly election which was held in February 1967. The assembly was the first non-

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

government of the state and, under chief-minister

C.N. Annadurai Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai (15 September 19093 February 1969), also known as Perarignar, was an Indian politician who was the founder and first general-secretary of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). He served as the fourth and last chi ...

, passed several key acts including the renaming of the state to

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

and the abolition of the

three-language formula The three-language formula is a language learning policy first formulated in 1968 by the Ministry of Education of the Government of India in consultation with the states. History The first recommendation for a three-language policy was made by the ...

in the state which had previously required

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

to be taught in schools.

Overview

The assembly was elected in the general election of February 1967 and consisted of 234 members including 42 members representing scheduled castes, two members representing scheduled tribes and one nominated member. In that election,

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; ; DMK) is an Indian political party based in the state of Tamil Nadu, where it is currently the ruling party, and the union territory of Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry, where it is currently the main ...

, under the leadership of

, won a majority. Annadurai was elected Chief minister as a member of the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

, the State's upper house. On 18 July 1967, the assembly unanimously adopted a resolution to change the name of Madras State to

. This was achieved through the ''Madras State (Alteration of Name) Act, 1968 (Central Act 53 of 1968)'' which was passed by the

Parliament of India The Parliament of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Government of India, Government of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok ...

and came into force on 14 January 1969, with the assembly being renamed the

Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It has a strength of 234 members, all of whom are democratically elected using the first-past-the-post system. The presiding office ...

. After the death of C. N. Annadurai in office, M. Karunanidhi became Chief Minister in 1969. This assembly marked the most dramatic change in Madras State politics with the first state-government by the DMK party. Since this assembly the previously dominant

has never returned to power in the state.

Significant achievements

During the tenure of C. N. Annadurai the assembly passed several key acts. Self-respect marriages, those not requiring the presence of a priest, were legalized through the Hindu Marriage (Madras Amendment) Act, 1967 which was introduced and passed during this assembly. In addition the

was scrapped and replaced by a "two-language" former in which "

was eliminated from the curriculum, only English and

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

were to be taught". Other measures included the sale of rice at a fixed price in the suburbs of

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

and the sponsoring of research into the Tamil poem

Tirukkuṛaḷ The ''Tirukkuṟaḷ'' (), or shortly the ''Kural'' (), is a classic Tamil language text on commoner's morality consisting of 1,330 short couplets, or kurals, of seven words each. The text is divided into three books with aphoristic teaching ...

at Madras State universities.

Annadurai's Cabinet

The council of ministers in C. N. Annadurai's cabinet (6 March 1967 – 10 February 1969).

Karunanidhi's cabinet

The council of ministers in Karunanidhi's cabinet (10 February 1969 – 4 January 1971). ;Changes *S. P. Adithanar who step down as Speaker of the Assembly and became Minister of Co-operation.

References

{{Reflist Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly

Overview

Significant achievements

Annadurai's Cabinet

Karunanidhi's cabinet

See also

References