Chennai: Ahead of next year’s Lok Sabha polls, the DMK Government in Tamil Nadu came up with several appealing welfare measures and significant infrastructure schemes in its budget presented in the Legislative Assembly on Monday.
From September 15; which is the birth anniversary of the DMK founder and former Chief Minister CN Annadurai, the government will roll out a scheme that envisions payment of Rs1,000 every month to women heads of eligible households across Tamil Nadu, Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan announced. Titled ‘Magalir Urimai Thogai’ (Women’s Rightful Amount) scheme, the scheme entails an allocation of Rs7,000 crore.
Major highlights of budget
The minister said upon implementation, this will be the “biggest cash transfer scheme implemented by any State Government in India’s history”. The minister also announced that the Chief Minister's Breakfast Scheme will be expanded to cover all the 30,122 government primary schools in the state from the coming academic year. Rs500 crore is allotted for this scheme which will benefit 18 lakh students from Class I to Class V. Rajan said, “We have reduced the annual revenue deficit of around Rs62,000 crore which we inherited on assuming office, to around Rs30,000 crore in the revised estimates of the current year”. The minister announced that the Metro Rail project will be implemented in Coimbatore and Madurai as well. The Government also announced a reduction in the stamp duty for registration of properties from four per cent to two per cent but decided to rollback a 33% reduction in the guideline value of properties that was implemented in mid-2017.
In another scheme, every year 1,000 civil services aspirants will be short listed through a screening test and each aspirant will be provided Rs7,500 per month for 10 months to prepare for the preliminary examination. Students who clear the preliminary examination will be provided a lump sum amount of Rs25,000. For this programme, an amount of Rs.10 crore has been allocated. In aggregate, an allocation of Rs6,967 crore has been made to the higher education department. With a view to celebrating the glory of Tamils who have conquered many lands overseas, efforts will be taken to promote and support sea cruises that will connect places of significance in Tamil culture.
To highlight the contribution of the Cholas who ruled the world, and to preserve artefacts and relics of that age, a “Grand Chola Museum” will be set up in Thanjavur.
