Stalin chairs economic advisory council meeting ahead of Budget

CHENNAI: Chief Minister M K Stalin has chaired a meeting of his Economic Advisory Council (EAC) comprising Nobel laureates among the economic experts ahead of the presentation of the ensuing Budget of the State for the next 2023-24 financial year.

Stalin led the meeting via video conference late Friday night. Nobel laureate Esther Duflow, former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, economists Arvind Subramanian, professor Jean Dreeze and Dr Narayanan besides State Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan and State Chief Secretary V Iraianbu took part in the meeting.

The Chief Minister is understood to have elicited the views of the council regarding the new schemes proposed to be implemented by the government ahead of the presentation of the 2023-24 budget in the State Assembly on March 20.

A statement issued by the government in this regard said that the Chief Minister also briefed the experts about the schemes implemented by the government since assuming office two years ago. The Chief Minister has got into a huddle with his expert team after a gap of nearly a year and a half. The first meeting of the EAC was held on July 9, 2021 a little over two months after Stalin took over as the Chief Minister in May 2021. The second meeting took place on October 25, 2021 following which the government came up with some reforms like Illam Thedi Kalvi to bridge the learning gap suffered by the state school students owing to the Covid-induced lockdown. The EAC offers broad guidance in shaping the socioeconomic policies of the State, mainly designing schemes for the empowerment of women and marginalized sections of the society and improving the overall economic status of the state and enhancement of jobs and manufacturing capacity.