TAMIL NADU FINANCE Minister P.T.R. Palanivel Thiagarajan has an unenviable task at hand—fixing the state’s finances without compromising on welfare programmes. He seems up to it. Recently the state constituted an economic advisory council with renowned economists Raghuram Rajan, Jean Dreze, Esther Duflo, Arvind Subramanian and S. Narayan for working out special welfare schemes while giving more attention to the state’s revenues. In an exclusive interview with THE WEEK, Thiagarajan elaborates on the state’s finances, the hidden debts and the flaws of GST. Excerpts:
Q/ What prompted the formation of the economic advisory council and how did you rope in the economists?
A/ Chief Minister M.K. Stalin [had been talking about it] after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. It was very clear to me that we were going to win in 2021. But I was worried about what happens after that. Because we had been out of power for 10 years. Neither did we have that experience nor the connect with the IAS and IPS officers. I thought it was an uphill task. So, right then, I mentioned to the chief minister [Stalin] that we get as many inputs as possible.
This story is from the July 11, 2021 edition of THE WEEK.
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This story is from the July 11, 2021 edition of THE WEEK.
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