Tamilnadu state budget-2018-19. Key areas and allotments on water resources and irrigation, water supply, energy, school education, higher education & gender budget

Tamil Nadu being a water scarce State, micro irrigation needs to be promoted extensively for both the agricultural and horticultural crops. Considering the importance of farm ponds in providing life saving irrigation to crops at the tail-end of Cauvery Delta and coastal areas, the Government will take up 10,000 more farm ponds at a cost of Rs.100 crore. Overall for the agricultural sector, a sum of Rs.8,916.25 crore is allocated in the Budget Estimates 2018-2019. The present State Government has revived the traditional practice of ‘Kudimaramath’ in mission mode since 2016-2017 with the aim of rejuvenating water bodies in the State. An amount of Rs.300 crore has been allocated in the Budget Estimates 2018-2019 for Kudimaramath. In the Budget Estimates 2018-2019, Rs.300 crore, Rs.186 crore and Rs.600 crore have been allocated for the NRDWP, MNP and NABARD funded works respectively. In the Budget Estimates of 2018-2019, Rs.27,205.88crore has been allocated for School Education Department. During the ensuing financial year, the heritage buildings at Government arts and science college in Kumbakonam, Victoria Hostel in Presidency college and Queen Mary’s college in Chennai will be restored at a cost of Rs.26 crore. In the Budget Estimates 2018-2019, Rs.4,620.20crore has been allocated for the Higher Education Department. Even as gender inequality poses a challenge to the development of India, the Tamilnadu government, for the first time, has sought to address the issue by presenting a Gender Budget statement, with specific allocations that will benefit women. The Gender Budget has three parts, Part-A deals with exclusive women beneficiaries, Part-B discusses individual beneficiaries among women who will be women. Part-C sets out indivisible allocations under various heads.