Delivering the Independence Day celebrations speech at Fort St. George on August 15, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami said that development and improvement of the individual should be used to measure progress and development of the nation.
“The success of freedom lies in ensuring that the basic needs of the individual such as food, education, shelter, sanitation, employment opportunities and security are met,” he said.
He said the State government will continue to focus on improving education, jobs and infrastructure in Tamil Nadu and has set aside Rs. 26,932 crore and 31 lakh for 2017-2018.
“To ensure that government school students also improve and upgrade their computer skills similar to their private school counter parts, Rs. 438 crore will be used to create ‘Computer Research labs’. Also, ‘Intellectual Skill- development class rooms’ (Arivuthiram Vaguparaigal) will be set up at a cost of Rs. 60 crore and infrastructure will be improved in schools at a cost of Rs. 391 crore in the current academic year,” he said.
Underlining the scale of investments that the State Government has attracted since AIADMK took power in the State in 2011, he said, “So far, the State has received Rs. 2, 19,000 crore investment. The State government has decided to set up Technology Parks spread over 19,615 acres in southern districts such as Ramanathapuram, Sivaganga, Pudhukottai, Dindigul, Tirunelveli and Kanniyakumari districts, which have fallen behind in terms of economic development.”
He further announced that the pension for freedom fighters will be increased from Rs. 12,000 to Rs. 13,000. “The pension received by the family will be increased from Rs. 6,000 to Rs. 6,500,” he said.
