Chennai: The continuous implementation of a plethora of social welfare schemes in the State had brought down the percentage of people living below the poverty line to 2.2, which had been acknowledged by the Union Government’s Niti Aagyog, State Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu said on Thursday.
Replying to the debate on the State Budget, he said the government had announced the Chief Minister’s Thayumanavur scheme to eliminate even that miniscule percentage of poverty from the State.
The scheme looked at poverty eradication from a perspective that was different from the traditional view in a male dominated society that stressed on the need to support women who had lost their husbands or children without fathers, he said.
Since field studies had revealed that children who lose their mothers too suffered immensely, the new poverty eradication programme had been prepared for the destitute population giving preference to lending support to families with single parents, mentally disabled and differently abled members, he said.
When Chief Minister M K Stalin’s attention was drawn to a news story on members of the Third Gender suffering due to their inability to complete their education as their families refused to support them, he instructed the framing of a new scheme for the Third Gender, under which the government would bear their entire educational expenses, he said.
A small box item in the news columns inspiring a policy decision to reach out to marginalized sections of the people in the lowest rung of society and it was not just a wonder but an example of the social justice ushered in by the Dravidian Model government, he said.
o prepare the younger generation for the challenges in the job markets of the future, the budget, presented on Monday, had several schemes that would turn the State into a knowledge hub through the setting up of information technology parks and global skilling centres and the Artificial Intelligence Movement to be spearheaded by the Chief Minister himself, he said.
The modern library envisaged for Coimbatore would also have scientific enclaves with a capacity to create future talents in science like the famous G D Naidu while rapid computerization of various departments in the State like the police and registration offices was on in the State that had introduced scientific Tamil, following the footsteps of M Karunanidhi, he said.
While importance had been given for the environment through the increase of green cover in urban areas, introduction of electric buses, development of waterways and improvement of beaches, the budget also made allocations for laying roads not just in Chennai but in all big cities, construction of bridges and new water supply schemes and a special fund to develop North Chennai, he said.
Sharing a nugget of history in the House, Thangam Thennarasu said that funds had been allocated to digitally document a historic incident relating to three Tamil men, which happened in 1554 when a small 38-page Tamil book was printed in Lisbon, Portugal. The first Tamil book to come in print was called ‘Karthilaa’ and was brought out with the help of three men from Thoothukudi, Vincent Nazerath, Jorko Carvello and Thome Dcruz, he said.
He also listed the programmes implemented by the government, particularly the disaster management efforts, and said that the BJP government that lacked the sensitivity to know the problems of people at the grassroots level was showing a step motherly treatment to Tamil Nadu in providing funds for disaster mitigation.
Besides, he reiterated that the Union government was depriving the State of its funds on various accounts and said that Tamil Nadu was today in the forefront in raising the voice of States that had been victimized.
