Rs 7,217 crore allocated for fisheries in Tamil Nadu Interim budget
Computer Science subject will be taught to Students from 6th to 10th standard, says O Paneerselvam
Tamil Nadu Finance Minister allocates Rs 9,567 crore for the police department in his interim budget
Tamil Nadu government to procure 12,000 new buses
The number of fire stations at Sivakasi, the fireworks hub of India will be increased
Increase in spending for health
Owing to COVID-19 pandemic and an increase in spending for health and relief, the total revenue deficit in 2020-21 is estimated to be Rs. 65,994.05 crore, a substantial increase from Rs. 21,617.64 crore projected in the Budget Estimates 20-21, Mr. Panneerselvam says.
“The recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission are disappointing, and the injustice done to Tamil Nadu by the earlier Commissions, and in particular by the 14th Finance Commission, has not been redressed,” O. Panneerselvam said
Tamil Nadu s tax revenue declined by 18 per cent, at about Rs 1 trillion in 2020-21 as per the revised budget. In the aggregate, the State-owned tax revenue (SOTR) is expected to be Rs 1.09 trillion in the revised estimates, down 18 per cent against Rs 1.33 trillion anticipated as revenue in the budget estimates. The interim budget was presented by Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister O Panneerselvam today. The state, like all other domains, was under intense lockdown for nearly six months before the unlocking started. The government’s fiscal deficit is expected to be widen to Rs 96,889.97 crore, which is five per cent of its GSDP.
Tamil Nadu is expected to register a positive growth rate of 2.02 per cent at 2011-12 constant prices in 2020-21 as against an All India negative growth rate of 7.7 per cent for the current fiscal. Meanwhile, the State has asked the Centre to merge cesses and surcharges with the basic rate of tax so that States receive their legitimate share of revenue. While presenting the interim Budget today, Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister and State Finance Minister, O Panneerselvam, attributed the strongest performance among states to the primary sector, which grew at 5.23 per cent, with the livestock and fisheries sectors faring even better. Growth in the secondary sector is 1.25 per cent and in the services sector it is 1.64 per cent. This significantly better-than-expected growth in 2020-21 is due to the expeditious and effective measures taken by the Tamil Nadu Government to tackle the pandemic, Panneerselvam said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated projects worth more than Rs 4,400 crore in Tamil Nadu, visiting the state ahead of assembly elections. Modi, at event in Chennai’s Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor stadium, handed over the Arjun Main Battle Tank (MK-1A) to the Indian Army. The tank is indigenously designed and developed at Avadi near Chennai. He later paid floral tributes to the portraits of late AIADMK leaders and former Chief Ministers M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa. He inaugurated the 9.05-km long extension of Chennai Metro Rail Phase-I, which will cost Rs 3,770 crore to link North Chennai with the airport and Central Railway Station. He inaugurated a fourth railway line between Chennai Beach and Attipattu: a 22.1-km section laid at a cost of Rs 293.40 crore. The line traverses through Chennai and Thiruvallur districts and will ease road traffic around Chennai Port.