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DMK govt’s first budget session from Aug 13 to Sept 21
The Business Advisory Council meeting chaired by Speaker M Appavu on Tuesday decided on the long duration of the session.
The first budget session of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) regime will begin on August 13, with the presentation of the revised budget for 2021-2022 by the finance minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan and it will conclude on September 21. The demands for grants for each department will be discussed for 23 days.
The Business Advisory Council meeting chaired by Speaker M Appavu on Tuesday decided on the long duration of the session. The session has several firsts. After the revised budget is presented, on the following day, the minister for agriculture M R K Panneerselvam will present an exclusive Agriculture Budget, a first for the state. “The debate on both budgets will take place together for four days from August 16,” Appavu told reporters. The responses will be given on August 19.
This is also the first digital budget as the Tamil Nadu government is aiming to go paperless. 234 desktops the assembly have been fixed for the legislators. While legislators will be trained to use the gadgets, hard copies will also be printed for their benefit. Following Himachal Pradesh and Odisha, Tamil Nadu wants to be at the forefront of the change to save trees and keep up with technological advancements, Appavu had told HT earlier. The MLAs will also be given a 9-inch tablet each at the budget session and they will continue to use it throughout their term for work related to their constituency and to raise demands using the tablet.
Ahead of the local body polls scheduled for later this year, the budget is unlikely to have any major tax revisions. “Some of the announcements will have the DMK’s poll promises such as ₹1,000 handouts for women head of households,” said a DMK leader not wishing to be named. Rajan had on August 9 released a 112-page White Paper on Tamil Nadu Government’s Finances stating that the current levels of fiscal deficit are unsustainable. He pointed out that the state was losing revenue by not having revised the motor vehicle tax in 15 years and called for the rationalisation of property tax and electricity tax. But the revision in these taxes is unlikely to be reflected in this budget.
From August 23, demands for grants for each department will be discussed and passed in the Tamil Nadu assembly.
Former finance minister O Panneerselvam presented an interim budget earlier in February ahead of the assembly elections held on April 6.
