Tamil Nadu tops in education in the country, says Edappadi K Palaniswami

SALEM: Tamil Nadu has taken the top slot in the field of education in the entire country, said Chief Minister, Edappadi K. Palaniswami here on Monday.

Participating in a function at the Nehru stadium here where he laid the foundation stone for a slew of new development projects worth Rs 202 crore, he said, Tamil Nadu's achievement in higher education was particularly impressive, having clocked the highest gross enrolment ratio in university education.

Mr. Palaniswami at the function also formally inaugurated completed plan projects with an outlay of Rs.64 crore, besides disbursing Rs.157 crore as credit assistance to various self-help groups. Already, Rs.500 crore had been disbursed to SHGs' in Salem district alone, creating avenues for self-employment, he noted.

Lambasting DMK leader M K Stalin's criticisms against the AIADMK government, the Chief Minister said he goes from one Gram Panchayat to another now, asking “what do you want”. But 'Amma's government was already giving to the people the benefits of several welfare and development schemes with outlays running to thousands of crore in rupees, he countered.

“We are not worried about Stalin going from village to village for we have already reachedall villages,” he stressed.

Asking what Mr. Stalin had done for the villages when he was Deputy Chief Minister and minister for Local Administration, Mr. Palaniswami said, on the contrary, 'Amma's government' has planned for every village and has been fulfilling the basic requirements of every village. It was part of those endevaours that Tamil Nadu's achievements in the education field have come about, the Chief Minister said, adding, all efforts were being made to make Tamil Nadu a “numero uno” state in the entire country as envisioned by Ms Jayalalithaa.