Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan presented the General Budget for 2022-23 in the House on March 18, 2022.
Social Safety Net, data driven governance, environmental sustainability and inter-generational equity, were among the key focus areas of this year’s budget.
Beginning his speech, Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, expressed deep concern at “the persistent attempts to erode the federal architecture of our polity”.
“The makers of our Constitution envisaged a harmonious relationship between the Union & States, built on the foundations of state autonomy & true Federalism,” he said.
Opposition party AIADMK has walked out of the Budget session of the Tamil Nadu Assembly
Tamil Nadu Finance Secretary N. Muruganandam said that the budget is prepared focusing on overall development. Sufficient funds allocated for all welfare schemes. Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan to bring down revenue deficit further, priority will be for revenue resources and exploring possible measures to improve it
This is the second Budget of the DMK government, and was presented as an e-budget.
Here are the highlights:
1. Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, presenting the Budget, said the revenue deficit has been brought down by ₹ 7,000 crore. The revised budget estimate had pegged the revenue deficit at ₹58,692.68 crore for 2021-22. He said State economy may be impacted due to inflationary pressures, which experts have warned about.
2. Mr. Thiaga Rajan said Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has requested the Centre for extension of the GST compensation period, which ends in June 2022, by two years. He hoped the Centre would consider the same.
3. State government will file a report on actions taken on the recommendations made by the Sixth State Finance Commission, which had recently submitted its report.
4. The ongoing crisis between Russia-Ukraine will cause a demand shock and global supply disruptions to the State’s economy, said Finance Minister Palalnivel Thiaga Rajan while presenting the Budget.
5. A separate organisation will be set up for Climate Change and green initiatives. Funds would be raised from aided institutions.
6. Special Social Media Monitoring Cells will be set up by the government within police department.
7. ₹50 crores have been allocated for ‘Naan Mudhalvan’ scheme, the Chief Minister’s project for upgrading skills of students.
8. Finance minister P.T.R. Palanivel Rajan said that all assistance would be provided to students who have had to discontinue their education in returning from war-torn Ukraine.
9. Fire Department has been allocated ₹496 crore in the Tamil Nadu budget.
10. ₹500 crore is being allocated for flood mitigation projects in Chennai City.
11. To provide quality medical care, the quality of government hospitals in Tamil Nadu will be further enhanced and a budget of ₹1,019 crore has been allocated for this in the budget, the State Finance Minister said.
12. Government announces ‘Project Nilgiri Tahr’ to protect & conserve the ‘State Animal’ of Tamil Nadu.
13. All girl students in Tamil Nadu who studied from classes 6 to 12 in Government schools will be paid Rs.1,000/- per month directly into their bank account till the uninterrupted completion of their undergraduate degree, diploma and ITI courses. The scheme is set to benefit five lakh girl students. The government also allocated ₹250 crore to upgrade government colleges.
14. ₹5 crore has been allocated to translate Periyar’s writings and works in other languages.
15. Mobile information centres would be launched for migrant workers. In the first phase this will cover Kancheepuram, Tirupur and Tiruvallur.
16. A new policy will be released to strengthen leather and footwear industry in the State.
17. The Tamil Nadu government has allocated ₹50 crore for emerging sector seed funds in the State Budget, said Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan. Additionally ₹30 crore have been allocated towards TANSIM (Tamil Nadu Start up and Innovation Mission) for promoting start-ups in Tamil Nadu.
18. The State will get 2,000 electric buses. The State Finance Mininter informed the House that Chief Minister Stalin's scheme to provide free transportation for women (in buses) has worked well. The commuters percentage has gone up from 40℅ to more than 60℅.
19. SOTR (State Own Tax Revenue) falls short of budgetary estimates for 2021-22, as Tamil Nadu was affected by pandemic and floods.
20. Fiscal deficit has been brought down to 3.80% from 4.33% in budget estimates for 2021-22. Revenue deficit estimated at ₹52,781.85 crore in 2022-23. Revenue deficit continued to be brought down.
21. Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan said 149 Samathuvapurams, which have been neglected without maintenance for the last ten years, will be renovated in the first phase at a cost of ₹190 crore.
22. In order to encourage transit-oriented development (TOD) in certain corridors such as Metro Rail, suburban rail, National Highways and by-pass roads, the Tamil Nadu government has decided to raise the existing Floor Space Index (FSI) in adjoining areas says, Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan.
23. To provide quality mental health services, the government has planned to establish a Tamil Nadu Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences, by upgrading the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), Kilpauk. A provision of ₹40 crore has been made for the first phase of this project.
24. New museums will be built this year in Villupuram and Ramanathapuram districts at an estimated cost of ₹10 crore.
25. To generate awareness about forests and wildlife among children from a young age, the Tamil Nadu government has decided to set up a Children's Nature Park at an estimated cost of ₹20 crore which will house birds, butterflies and animals by remodelling the Guindy Children's Park. Additionally, the government will set up a botanical garden at a cost of ₹300 crore near Chennai in partnership with Kew Gardens of London.
26. To promote education in Tamil medium, government will provide school kits including textbooks and notebooks, to students of Classes 1 to 10 in private unaided schools which teach exclusively in Tamil medium, from this year onwards, at an estimated cost of ₹15 crore.
27. ₹82.86 crore has been allocated to the Tamil Development Department in this Budget
28. The government has allocated ₹4,816 crore in the Budget for various social security pension schemes such as Old Age Pension, Destitute Widow Pension and Pension for Differently Abled.
29. With respect to loan waivers, the government announced, a sum of ₹2,531 crore for the waiver of agricultural loans, a sum of ₹1,000 crore for the waiver of jewel loans and a sum of ₹600 crore for waiving self-help group loans, totalling an amount of ₹4,131 crore.
30. The State government has allocated ₹10 crore towards upgrading disaster early warning system in Chennai. This is to set up a network of automatic weather stations and rain gauges, weather radars and weather balloons.
31. The GST compensation period is coming to end on 30.6.2022. Consequently, in the coming financial year, Tamil Nadu will face a revenue loss of approximately Rs 20,000 crore, says Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan.
32. To motivate government school students to aspire to join premier higher education institutions like IIT, IISC & AIIMS, the Tamil Nadu government will bear the full cost of undergraduate education of students who studied in government schools from classes 6-12, the Finance Minister said.
33. Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan said over the next 5 years, a special scheme will be implemented to create new classrooms, hostels, laboratories and smart classrooms in the higher education sector at a total cost of ₹1,000 crore
34. Tamil Nadu will launch a massive scheme 'Perasiriyar Anbazhagan School Development Scheme' to modernise government schools (including Adi Dravidar, Tribal & Kallar Reclamation Schools) over the next 5 years. 18,000 new classrooms will be constructed.
35. With a view to establishing the relationship between the Tamil language and the Indo-European language family, a committee of Tamil etymologists will be formed to prepare an etymological dictionary, said Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan.
36. Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan says CM Stalin has instructed all necessary steps to be taken to fulfil the government’s next major commitment, which is to grant basic income to women (₹1000 per month for women head of families). Due to the precarious financial position left by the previous regime, implementing this commitment was difficult in the first year of this government. The Minister says work is on in full swing to identify eligible beneficiaries from various databases and design the scheme in a manner that the benefits reach the deserving. Based on this, I assure you that this scheme will be implemented when the financial situation improves, he said
37. The government announced allocation of ₹25 crore towards a programme to develop world class athletes and Olympic medalists from Tamil Nadu.
38. An iconic State Startup Hub Centre with all facilities will be established by the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) at Nandambakkam, Chennai at an estimated cost of ₹75 crore, said Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan.
39. Announcing that sanctions for widening the Thiruvanmiyur, Kottivakkam and Palavakkam road stretches have already been granted, the government said that the remaining stretches covering Neelankarai, Injambakkam and Sholinganallur villages will be widened to six-lane at a cost of ₹135 crore. The bottlenecks in handing over the East Coast Road beyond Mamallapuram to NHAI have been addressed and the work of widening the road into a four lane road will begin soon.
40. A Tamil Nadu Coir Business Development Corporation will be set up in Coimbatore for developing the coir sector to popularize value added coir products made in Tamil Nadu.
41. In the next two years, the Tamil Nadu government will establish District Central Libraries with modern infrastructure in the newly-created 6 districts at an estimated cost of ₹36 crore. These library buildings will be named after Tamil scholars, said Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan. To make book reading a 'people's movement', book fairs will be organised in all the districts of TN akin to the Chennai Book Fair. Four literary festivals will be held annually to celebrate the literary traditions of the rich Tamil language.
42. The Tamil Nadu government will revive and implement the Maduravoyal - Chennai Port Elevated Corridor Project. A 20.6 km long double-decker elevated corridor at an estimated cost of ₹5,770 crore will be constructed, says Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan. To implement this project, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the NHAI, Government of Tamil Nadu, the Navy and Chennai Port will be signed soon.
43. A special fund of ₹60 crore will be provided to create basic infrastructure in the six newly-formed corporations of Tambaram, Kanchipuram, Kumbakonam, Karur, Cuddalore and Sivakasi at ₹10 crore each. For 28 new municipalities ₹2 crore each will be provided.
44. The 50-metre wide stretch of land adjoining the eastern side of the Outer Ring Road (ORR) from Minjur to Vandalur with a length of 62 km will be developed as a Development Corridor.
45. Tamil Nadu's outstanding debt as on 31st March 2023 will be ₹6,53,348.73 crore after excluding Back to Back loan for GST Compensation shortfall released by Government of India. This constitutes 26.29 % of Gross State Domestic Product in 2022-23, says Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan.
