Tamil Nadu’s first e-budget to be presented on August 13

CHENNAI: Amid high expectations, the first budget of the State government headed by Chief Minister MK Stalin will be presented on August 13. This will be the government’s first e-budget. Additionally, the State’s first separate budget on Agriculture will be presented on August 14. Since the AIADMK government had presented an interim budget for 2021-22, the DMK government will be presenting a revised budget. 

Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan had held many rounds of discussion with senior officials. Rajan had said that he would be writing the bulk of the budget speech himself, unlike former ministers who relied on IAS officers. According to sources, the budget will have strategies to augment revenue from new sources. 

Since this is the first budget of DMK government and comes just ahead of the elections to rural local bodies in nine newly formed districts, there are likely to be a lot of populist announcements to fulfill poll promises of DMK, including `1,000 a month to women heads of families.