Palaniswami hails 'fairly balanced, farm and rural oriented Budget 2018

Lauds standard deduction of Rs 40,000, but says it falls short of people's expectations

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami said that the Budget presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is fairly balanced, growth-oriented, which focuses on the development of agriculture, rural development and health sector.

Palaniswami said, "The country is going through a difficult phase of economic development. It needs acceleration and stabilisation of the growth momentum. The budget should give a boost to increase investment, generate more jobs. There are many initiatives in the agricultural sector, which will benefit the farming community."

He further added, "Given these circumstances, this budget is addressing the critical issues effectively and the Arun Jaitley has put his best efforts to present a balanced and growth-oriented budget. I hope that this budget will bring fiscal stability to the country and accelerate the economic growth."

The Tamil Nadu chief minister said, "though the Budget has given considerable importance to agriculture, rural development, health etc., the reduction in allocation in some of the sensitive and important schemes like post-matric scholarships for Scheduled Castes, Pradhan Mantri Mathru Vandana Yojana, Skill Development and Livelihood Mission could have been avoided.  

"The requirement of funds under the post-matric scholarship at the national level is very high, but this reduced allocation would further tighten the release to the State Governments. The Government of India could have increased the allocations substantially."

While welcoming the standard deduction of Rs 40,000 announced in the budget speech, Palaniswami said that this falls short of the expectations of the public.

He welcomed the reduction in the rate of corporate tax to 25 per cent to companies with a turnover of less than Rs 2.5 billion and National Health Protection Scheme.  

The constitution of a dedicated Affordable Housing Fund in the National Housing Bank is a welcome move, but the allocation for the Prime Ministers’ Awas Yojana has been reduced in the Budget, said Palaniswami.