CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu govt would set up a high-level committee to review and rationalise welfare spending, state finance minister N Marie Wilson said on Wednesday. The govt would constitute an expert committee to review all welfare programs by evaluating the impact on the target beneficiary groups and advise govt on rationalising expenditure, he said, adding that such efforts would enhance welfare delivery efficiency and make sure the people who need state intervention truly benefit.The minister said govt’s various efforts for resource mobilisation would result in mobilisation of nearly Rs 15,000 crore additionally and the expenditure committee will complement the recently constituted high level revenue augmentation committee headed by Montek Singh Ahluwalia.Presenting the TVK govt’s maiden budget, Wilson said the expenditure committee would not be restricted to reducing expenditure but expand welfare schemes that have good positive benefits to the state in the long run.“The govt believes that welfare schemes such as scholarships and free education to students, PDS subsidies, free housing for the poor, subsidies to manufacturing drives consumption and economic growth. We are continuing most of the schemes for public welfare that have been in existence for the last three decades and plan to expand them further. However, a calibrated balance between welfare scheme investments in human capital and infrastructure is necessary,” he said.Wilson accused the previous govt of borrowing for investment in human capital without mobilising resources, and the financial distress has resulted from poor administration and leakages in the revenue-collecting departments. Govt’s efforts to plug leakages in revenue and expenditure had created an additional Rs 1,500 crore in revenue so far, he said.The govt targets Rs 15,000 additional mop-up and would need at least two years to bring the finances to the fiscal consolidation path, he said.
