Tamil Nadu Announces Rs 1000 Cash Bonanza for Pongal Celebrations

Chennai: Chief Minister M K Stalin announced a Rs 1000 cash bonanza to family card holders in the State for Pongal in addition to the gift hamper comprising one kg of raw rice, one kg sugar and one full length sugarcane that was announced on Tuesday and the regular free dhoti and saree distribution scheme that had been in vogue for a long time.

An official press release said that the free dhotis and sarees had been dispatched to the districts for free distribution and that the Rs 1000 cash reward would be distributed through the ration shops ahead of the Pongal festival to help the families spend the money meaningfully.

The government would also credit the Rs 1000 rights allowance given to 1.15 crore women under the Kalignar Women’s Rights Assistance scheme by January 10 itself, five days ahead of the stipulated date of 15 every month, in view of the unique Tamil festival that celebrates the farmer, it said.

In his message on X, Stalin said that the Dravidian Model government had ensured happiness in all homes during the Pongal festival despite the financial crunch through the Rs 1000 assistance, which was a continuation of the plethora of welfare schemes launched since the DMK came to power.

Utilizing the States’ own funds, the government had implemented welfare schemes like the free bus journeys for women that enable families to save at least Rs 1000 a month, free breakfast in government schools that reduce the work burden of women, monthly ‘rights assistance’ to women and the Rs 1000 monthly assistance for women joining courses of higher education, he said.

When the State government had done all these for the people, what had the Union Government, which was responsible for protecting the welfare of the people, done, he asked and attached the video of State Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu rebutting Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman’s remarks on the State’s tax collection.

Thennarasu, debunking the claims of the Union Finance Minister on tax collections, highlighted the fact that the State had not been given the funds sought to undertake flood relief work and said that Tamil Nadu was getting a step-motherly treatment in relation to the assistance given to other States, particularly those run by BJP governments.

On tax collections, he said that the Union Government had collected Rs 6.23 lakh crore as direct taxes between 2014 and 2023 but had denied the State’s legitimate share and deprived the State of its financial autonomy.

For every one rupee collected from the State by the Union Government, only 29 paise was returned, whereas other States like Uttar Pradesh were getting more, he said. To drive home the point that it was the present BJP government that treated the State shabbily, he said that the central tax share was 5.30 percent under the 12th Finance Commission while in the 15th Finance Commission it had declined to 4.79 percent.

While the Union Government was refusing to share the cess and surcharges it collected with the State and not  allocating adequate funds for various projects like the Metro Rail, the State share of contribution to all the Union Government schemes were higher than that provided by Delhi, he said.