CHENNAI: At a meeting with the State Planning Commission (SPC), Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday stressed the need for uniform growth in all districts. "We have to admit that the State presently doesn’t have such uniform growth. In some districts, poverty is low, and in some, it is high. A uniform State-wide action plan is needed to rectify this... We have to start our journey towards this immediately."
He also told the panel to devise plans to improve vital parameters such as poverty eradication and social justice, and uplift marginalised sections of society. "Though Tamil Nadu is a developed State on many parameters, it is yet to achieve complete development. Our State should excel in human resources development, standard of life, learning, upbringing of children, poverty eradication, public health, human rights, social justice, and upgrading marginalised sections of society. The State government is ready to take steps to improve these parameters. The SPC should devise proper plans for this," the chief minister said at the SPC meeting here.
Stalin added that the SPC can discuss ideas with the experts' committee and visit factories and other places to gather information. "Before the SPC advises the State government, it should study the issue thoroughly. The SPC can hold discussions with department-wise experts, and visit districts and meet farmers, industrialists and youth to elicit their views," he said.
The chief minister added that the SPC should monitor whether schemes reach people at the grassroots level. The duration between devising and implementing plans should be reduced. Also, the State government needs advice on reducing expenditure.
"As of now, revenue is netted through tax collection, registration, and excise duty. Plans should be devised to earn through tourism, MSME, handicrafts, khadi, etc. Industrial growth should translate into financial growth as well as growth in employment opportunities. Tamil Nadu's growth should be the growth of society. In a nutshell, it should be a Dravidian growth model," the chief minister said. Dr J Jeyaranjan, chairman of the SPC, and its members were at the meeting.