Chennai:Laying emphasis on all-round .development, the Rs 1,06,963 crore deficit Budget for 2025-26, presented by State Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu allocated Rs 55,261 crore for education and increased the outlay for the various welfare schemes of the government, underlining the need for a comprehensive action plan to expedite the pace of development to be on par with developed countries.In his second budget speech in the Assembly on Friday, Thennarasu said that the total receipts expected for the year was Rs 3,32,330 crore as against projected disbursements of Rs 4,39,293 crore with the State’s own tax revenue of Rs 2,20895 crore accounting for the bulk of the income with commercial taxes, stamps and registrations, State excise, motor vehicle tax and others accounting for it.Setting an ambitious target of Rs 9.5 lakh crore for banks to extend credit to priority sectors such as agriculture, micro, small and medium enterprises, women’s self-help groups and education, the Budget envisaged implementing a Comprehensive Water Resources Development programme at a cost of Rs 2000 crore and to construct a new reservoir in the Kovalam sub-basin near Chennai to fulfill the demand of the people of Chennai for a supply of 170 MLD of potable water.Keeping with the demands of the times to equip students with advanced technical knowledge and skills training, the government would provide hi-tech devices to students of all colleges, fulfilling the promise made four years ago. In the first phase, 20 lakh college students would be provided with a tablet or laptop based on their preference over the next two years. A similar scheme of the past was shelved during the pandemic.Following the tradition of the Dravidian movement that first gave voting rights and property rights to women at different points of time, the present government, led by M K Stalin, had decided to reduce by one percent the registration fee for all immovable assets up to Rs 10 lakh in value if registered in the name of women from April 1, Thennarasu said.Announcing a ‘Tamil Nadu Semiconductor Mission -2030’ with an allocation of Rs 500 crore, Thennarasu said that a semiconductor fabless lab would be established in Chennai at a cost of Rs 100 crore and semiconductor manufacturing parks at Sulur in Coimbatore and near Palladam.Other announcements for industrial development include a Rs 400 crore Tidel Park in Hosur at a cost of Rs 400 crore and a mini-Tidel park at Virudhunagar creating 6,600 jobs, a ‘Hosur Knowledge Corridor’ on the lines of IT corridor on Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) in Chennai and several industrial parks in various places, including a bioscience park near Chennai. For the welfare of senior citizens, 25 ‘Anbucholai’ (Gardens of Love) centres would be established in municipal corporations with a financial allocation of Rs 10 crore and for the welfare of children the Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme would b expanded in the next academic year to include government aided schools in urban areas benefitting 3.14 lakh children in Classes I to V.Women’s welfare and development have been given high priority in the Budget that envisages the forming of 100 new Self-Help Groups (SHGs) for women from marginalized sections and has set a target of providing bank loans to the tune of Rs 37,000 crore in the next financial year.Construction of ‘Thozhi’ (friend) working women’s hostels in 10 more places like Kanchipuram, Erode, Karur and Ranipet at a cost of Rs 77 crore and the establishment of three girl students hostels with modern facilities in Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai with each of them accommodating 1000 girls at a total cost of Rs 275 crore are among the schemes that would help women moving away from home for education and work. The scheme providing a monthly scholarship of Rs 1000 to students pursuing higher education under the ‘Pudumai Penn’ and ‘Tamizh Puthalvan’ schemes would be extended to members of the Third Gender, keeping with the State’s pioneering initiatives of the past for the welfare of transgendered persons. In a pilot project for inducting transgenders into the Home Guard Force, 50 members in Chennai, Tambaram and Avadi corporations would be given appropriate training to carry out tasks such as traffic management and crowd control during the festival season. A slew of schemes for Tamil development and promoting culture were announced in the Budget. Among them were the organization of ate World Tamil Olympiad competition every year, setting up ‘Agaram – Museum of Languages’ at the Madurai World Tamil Sangam campus and the conducting of in-person classes through Non-Resident Tamils Welfare Board by engaging 100 Tamil teachers and artists to systematically introduce Tamil heritage to the younger generation of Tamils living abroad through the allocation of Rs 10 crore for it.
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