Mixed views were voiced by politicians, economists, and others on the 2022-23 budget for Tamil Nadu that was presented by Finance Minister Palanivel Thiagarajan in the Assembly on Friday.
This was Thiagarajan’s second budget and also the second paperless budget for the state.
Reacting to the budget proposals, former Chief Minister and AIADMK Coordinator O. Panneerselvam said the budget lacks foresight and will not help the common man to improve his life.
Panneerselvam said the budget does not have provisions for fulfilling various poll promises made by the DMK party like increasing old-age pension, financial assistance to the women heads of families, increasing the revenue from mining and other sources.
Panneerselvam who had handled the finance portfolio when the AIADMK was in power said the budget does not have anything on increasing the state’s revenues or cutting down costs.
“Social safety net, data-driven governance, environmental sustainability, and inter-generational equity, were among the key focus areas of this year’s budget. Although the impact of the pandemic posed serious challenges to the economic growth of Tamil Nadu, the situation has been improving in the past months,” Economist Gowri Ramachandran told in an interview.
“So, reform measures to boost the state’s revenue by plugging leakages, to tap the revenue collection from key departments like commercial taxes, mining, sale of liquor/excise to the fullest possible extent, guidelines for toning up the functioning of State Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), and steps to reduce the debt burden are among the big expectations for this budget and all these were addressed,” she said.
Lauding the minister for bringing down the revenue deficit by about Rs 7,000 cr and fiscal deficit well within the approved line of four percent Ramachandran said the priority will be for revenue resources and exploring possible measures to improve it.
The government has allocated Rs 50 crore for emerging sector seed funds in the budget. Additionally, Rs 30 crore has been allocated towards TANSIM (Tamil Nadu Startup and Innovation Mission) for promoting start-ups in Tamil Nadu which in turn would encourage talented startups, Ramachandran said.
President of Manitheneya Makkal Katchi, M.H. Jawahirullah said the budget is growth-oriented and inclusive.
He said while new tax announcements were expected, the Finance Minister has presented a tax-free growth-oriented budget.
PMK Founder S.Ramadoss welcomed some of the budget proposals and said there are no special schemes to take the state on the forward path.
He said the increasing debt burden-expected to be about Rs 6.53 lakh crore by March 31, 2023, is a worrying factor.
The President of the Tamil Nadu BJP, K. Annamalai said the state government has announced schemes by naming the central government schemes and the budget is silent on the DMK party’s poll promises.
In a tweet, Annamalai said the budget lacks long-term vision and is a daydreamer’s budget.
Tamil Nadu’s budget for 2022-23 is a disappointment for the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) as it is similar to that of the Union Budget supporting ‘doing well’ industries, said K.E.Raghunathan, Convenor, Consortium of Indian Associations.
“The budget is not addressing the core needs of MSMEs today. Sorry Finance Minister. We expected more from you for uplifting the suffocating MSMEs. But our pain continues and the struggle goes on,” Raghunathan said.
