Pointing to the State’s mounting debt, DMK deputy leader in the Assembly Duraimurugan on Thursday said each child born in the State carries Rs. 40,000 debt.
Taking a dig at the AIADMK over the increasing fiscal and revenue deficit and mounting debt, the DMK leader said when the DMK was in power in 2010, the AIADMK had claimed that “each newborn child is born with a debt of Rs. 15,000” referring to the overall debt then. “But now look at the current scenario. Going by what your government is saying now, each child born now carries a debt of Rs. 40,000,” he said.
Mr. Duraimurugan criticised the AIADMK government for its inability to increase revenue and reduce the fiscal deficit. “Deficit is not bad as such. Whoever is in government, deficit will be there. But it has to be reduced by augmenting revenue. While all States have fiscal deficit, they are taking efforts to bring it down,” Mr. Duraimurugan said.
Presenting statistics of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, the DMK leader said both the States had reduced their (fiscal as well as revenue) deficit in the last two years. “When other States are able to reduce, it leads to questions about Tamil Nadu’s ability to bring the deficit down. Why is the government not able to reduce deficit,” he asked. With mounting fiscal and revenue deficits, the State government was struggling to maintain its finances, he said.
Leader of the House and Finance Minister O. Panneerselvam said: “Growth is happening in the State, but global slowdown has affected India and Tamil Nadu too.”
When Mr. Duraimurugan wanted to know about the issue of differential guideline values in Tamil Nadu, Mr. Panneerselvam said the Chief Minister had constituted a committee to look into the issue and the committee would decide on rationalising guideline values.
‘When other States cut deficit, questions are raised about Tamil Nadu’s ability to bring the deficit down’
