Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin speaks during the TN Assembly session, in Chennai, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024. (PTI Photo)

Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Tamil Nadu government has come out with a dream budget that aims to please all sections of society, particularly the marginalised and the poor. It is not surprising that on social media platforms common people are going gung ho over the budget proposals for 2024-25, read out in the State Assembly by finance minister, Thangam Thennarsu, on Monday. For, it has not just something for everyone to rejoice but has been framed with lofty ideas like social justice, gender equality, poverty eradication, environmental protection, modernization, industrial development and public education in mind.

A futuristic document with proposals for new skill labs in colleges and the setting up of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Mission, it also takes pride in the past by allocating Rs 17 crore to set up an open-air museum at Keezhadi, the excavation site that gave indisputable evidence to the antiquity of the Tamil race, and launching more archeological explorations.

Besides laying emphasis on spending more on roads and bridges (Rs 17,890 crore), transport (Rs 2,966 crore, urban development (Rs 3,767 crore), water supply (Rs 9,535 crore), water bodies (Rs 4,747 crore) and education and health services (Rs 2,810 crore), it also makes available funds to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore for providing basic amenities in tribal habitations and improving the living conditions of the people there and proposes to rescue five lakh families from the clutches of poverty, besides disbursing Rs 35,000 crore credit to women self-help groups.

In a bold step, the State government that has hitherto been complaining about the Union Government not providing the promised funds for the second phase of the Metro Rail project has now decided to allot Rs 12,000 for completing the work that it had started without waiting for money from Delhi and extend the line up to Kilambakkam to provide connectivity to the new bus terminus that has been constructed for south-bound buses. In short, it’s a people oriented budget, drawn up by the DMK government with the coming Lok Sabha elections in mind.