Tamil Nadu’s 2024-25 budget, unveiled just months ahead of the Lok Sabha election, could be seen as living up to Chief Minister M K Stalin’s definition of the Dravidian model of governance: “everything for everyone”. The budget does appear to offer everything to every marginalised group, with a focus on education.
The new Tamizh Pudhalvan scheme at a cost of Rs 360 crore hopes to replicate the success of the Pudhumai Penn initiative targeted at improving enrolment of girls in higher education with incentives by offering boys who studied in government schools from Class 6-10 a monthly aid of Rs 1,000 to enrol and complete their higher education. The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of boys is less than that of girls in TN.
Similarly, the government announced a scheme to realise a hut-free Tamil Nadu at a cost of Rs 3,500 crore by building 8 lakh houses in rural parts of the state. Meanwhile, the Chief Minister’s breakfast scheme for government school students of Classes 1-5 will be expanded to include students of government aided schools as well. The government also said that education costs of transgender persons would be borne by the state and the scheme providing free bus services to women, trans persons, and persons with disabilities will be expanded to cover hilly regions as well.
On the other hand, the state also announced payroll subsidies to global capability centres employing persons at high salaries and to incentivise new firms to employ women, trans persons, and disabled persons. However, allocations for key sectors such as health and education appear to have stagnated at a time when both are crying for investment.
With the revenue deficit reaching Rs 44,907 crore in the revised estimates for 2023-24 against the Rs 37,540 crore in the Budget estimates and expected to rise to Rs 49,279 crore in 2024-25, the government has clearly sought to woo the youth and marginalised amid its constraints. However, there are concerns that this may have come at the cost of capital expenditure which was reduced to Rs 42,532 crore in revised estimates for 2023-24 from Rs 44,366 crore in the budget estimates. Further, the limited transparency in detailing how government funds reach the most marginalised in the state, evidenced by its opaque gender budget statement, needs to be redressed.