CHENNAI: State Finance Minister O Panneerselvam on Thursday presented his maiden budget with a marginal revenue surplus of Rs 173.87 crore and made announcements about welfare schemes, most of them AIADMK’s electoral promises, to be implemented at a whopping expenditure of Rs 8,900 crore. The fiscal deficit for the current year stood at Rs 16,881 crore.Presenting the budget in the State Assembly, the Finance Minister took pride in announcing that for the first time in the history of Tamil Nadu, the budget size exceeded Rs 1 lakh crore mark.The total revenue receipt for 2011-12 is projected at Rs 85,685 crore while the revenue expenditure would be Rs 85,511 crore. The State’s own tax revenue is projected at Rs 59,787 crore and non-tax revenue is projected at Rs 5,015 crore. The share of Union taxes and the grant-in-aid from the Centre is projected at Rs 13,111 crore and Rs 7,772 crore, respectively.Panneerselvam’s new announcements include providing an incentive of Rs 1,500 and Rs 2,000 to students in Class X to Class XII in government and government-aided schools to cut the dropout rate further, distribution of full pants to boys from Class VI and salwar kameez instead of paavadai-dhavani to girls, launching of Hospital on Wheels Scheme for doorstep healthcare services in remote areas, launching of a comprehensive scheme to improve basic amenities in rural areas at a cost of Rs 680 crore per year and allocation of Rs 5 crore for a mass drive for clearing accumulated plastic waste throughout the State and its proper disposal.
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