CHENNAI: At a time when Tamil Nadu is still reeling under the pangs of the pandemic, Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan has done a tight-rope walk with the available resources in the Budget for 2022-23 unveiled on Friday.
He has ensured flow of adequate funds to social sectors without deviating from the road to fiscal consolidation.
The minister also gave a clear roadmap to Tamil Nadu by setting a 10-point charter of broad focus areas for the State to move ahead in the new financial year.
While stopping the downward slide and slashing the revenue deficit by Rs 7,000 crore and fiscal deficit from 4.61 per cent to 3.80 per cent in a year after the third wave of the pandemic, the minister did a plain-speak about the year ahead.
“The coming financial year is likely to be replete with uncertainties. The war in Ukraine can disrupt the global economic recovery. Global supply disruptions and demand shocks can adversely impact the State’s tax revenue,” he said.
The projected total outstanding debt of the government as of March 31, 2023, will be Rs 6,53,348.73 crore and the debt-GSDP ratio will be 26.29 per cent, which is within the limits set by the 15th Central Finance Commission.
The minister, however, expressed confidence that his measures for raising additional revenues and improved tax collection will help the economy.
His agenda is already set.
The key focus areas for 2022-23 include enhancing the growth rate of the primary sector, making youth employable by specific interventions at the school and college level, socio-economic development of the marginalised, achieving social justice in all walks of life, using data-driven governance to eliminate leakages, and giving focused delivery of funds and services.
The most important announcement in the nearly two-hour-long presentation was the incentive for college education of girl students from government schools.
He has promised a monthly payment of Rs 1,000 directly into their bank accounts, with an allocation of Rs 698 crore.
The earlier ‘Thalikku Thangam’ scheme, which provided gold and financial assistance for women’s marriages, has been reshaped into a higher education assurance scheme.
The minister has also floated a scheme to modernise government schools over five years at a cost of Rs 7,000 crore.
However, the scheme to provide Rs 1,000 a month to women family heads has been put off. The minister said the scheme will only take off after the State’s financial situation improves.