Budgeting for a new vision (Tamil Nadu)

One of the biggest challenges in governance is to not lose sight of long-term goals and objectives in the urgent pursuit of short-term imperatives. Four days before the Tamil Nadu budget for 2012-13, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa unveiled Vision Tamil Nadu 2023, a document that lays the roadmap for improving social indices, infrastructure, and income levels of the people within the next 11 years. It envisages Tamil Nadu as India's most prosperous and progressive State with no poverty, where people would enjoy all the basic services of a modern society. Ms Jayalalithaa was not speaking of Tamil Nadu racing ahead of other States, but was inviting comparison with developed countries. The document was specific in outlining growth strategies and plans for boosting investment. Tamil Nadu would aim to increase its GSDP at 11 per cent or more per year for 11 years, which is about 20 per cent more than the projected growth rate of India's GDP over the same period. The State budget that followed was of a piece with the vision document: there was equal emphasis on economic growth and social security. While Rs 1,000 crore was allocated for the Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Development Fund, spending on social security remains high, as does the expenditure on the government's freebies, a dubious form of welfarism to say the least. Tamil Nadu already has in place a strong universal Public Distribution System. With a stronger social safety net, the State might well be on the way towards the stated target of poverty elimination by 2023.

While Tamil Nadu has done well in the services sector, thanks to the boom in information technology, agriculture, like in the rest of the country, lags behind. Because of investments by global automobile majors, the manufacturing sector has also contributed substantially to growth. However, with the IT and related sectors garnering all the attention of policymakers in recent years, the manufacturing sector is now in need of some handholding. As a much needed corrective, the agriculture sector has been given Rs.3,804 crore, with the focus on raising production by increasing yield and coverage, and enhancing disbursement of crop loans. There is now a greater recognition of the importance of modernisation of the sector through adoption of new techniques that would not require corporatisation or radical changes in the landholding pattern. Efforts are also on to attract more multinational firms in the manufacturing sector. But good planning and efficient budgeting are only the first steps in bringing about the necessary changes in the lives and livelihoods of the people. The toughest part, as always, is from paper and drawing board to field and finished product.