Tamil Nadu Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar (file photo) | Photo Credit: Johan Sathyadas J

The TVK-led Tamil Nadu government will pass a resolution in the Legislative Assembly demanding the State’s due share of financial devolution from the taxes contributed to the Union Government. Besides passing the resolution, a Special Legal Committee will be constituted to legally pursue the issue up to the Supreme Court, in order to secure fair financial devolution, Tamil Nadu Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar said in the address in the first session of the 17th Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on Thursday.

Arlekar on Thursday read the customary address for about 40 minutes at the Assembly after the session began with Tamizh Thai Vaazthu, followed by the National Anthem. It is to be noted that his predecessor RN Ravi walked out of the Assembly early this year, and in 2025 and 2024 over alleged disrespect shown to the National Anthem.

The Governor said that every rupee due to Tamil Nadu will be properly documented and a report detailing the Union Government’s discriminatory approach towards the financial devolution for Tamil Nadu will be published. Further, it will be ensured that Tamil Nadu receives its rightful share of financial devolution from the Union Government, he said.

This Government will work diligently to continuously press the Union Government to safeguard the welfare of Tamil Nadu, to fight for State rights, to implement required schemes for the State and to create new infrastructure, he said.

Over the past few years, Tamil Nadu’s financial position has faced a very severe deterioration. In the last five years alone, the debt has nearly doubled, reaching the level of ₹10 lakh crore; this currently amounts to 28.3 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP). As a result, every individual living in Tamil Nadu bears a debt burden of more than ₹1 lakh rupees, he said.

The State’s revenue deficit which was ₹48,840 crore in 2024-25 has risen to Rs.78,324 crore in 2025-26 in just one year, amounting to 2.2 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP). Nearly 23 per cent of total revenue receipts is spent on interest payments alone. Owing to revenue leakages and systematic corruption in the revenue and tax-collecting departments, tax revenue has declined from 5.93 per cent of GSDP in the financial year 2021-22 to 5.45 per cent in 2025-26, he said.

This Government has already begun coordinated measures to bring the diverted revenue that rightfully belongs to the Government into the State treasury. In order to bring the revenue that was diverted earlier back into the Government’s account, this Government has recently levied an additional privilege fee on liquor manufacturers. Through this, revenues that were escaping credit to State exchequer have been regulated and channelized directly into the State’s exchequer, and the Government is expecting receipt of upto ₹1,000 crore annually.

This Government is taking every measure to prevent all leakages in revenue receipts, as well as leakages in Government works and other Government expenditure, and to restore the State’s finances on to a sound path which will enable this Government to fully honour the promises it has made to the people of Tamil Nadu, he said.

Even though the Tamil Nadu is facing a challenging fiscal situation, the Chief Minister issued his first three orders namely - to reduce consumers’ electricity charges by providing 200 units of free electricity to households consuming up to 500 units bi-monthly at a cost of ₹1,730 crore to the Government; to set up a special drug-prevention force in every district across the State; and to establish the ‘Singappen Special Task Force’ for the safety of women and children, he said.

As a Government that is deeply concerned with the welfare of the public, this Government has closed 717 retail liquor outlets situated within 500 metres of places of worship, educational institutions and bus stands immediately upon assuming office.

To help the farming community, Hon’ble Chief Minister has issued orders for fully waiving crop loans from cooperative societies for farmers with outstanding crop loan amount up to ₹75,000 and waiving Rs.35,000 for all other farmers. This will benefit 14.43 lakh farmers at an additional expenditure of approximately ₹6,000 crore to the Government. 24. Revitalising the agricultural sector and improving the livelihood of the farming community is the highest priority for this Government, he said

This Government will continue to follow this policy since the two-language policy is one that the people of Tamil Nadu have accepted. This Government will urge the Union Government to use Tamil as the language of pleading in the Madras High Court and its Madurai Bench and to establish a Bench of the Supreme Court in Chennai.

This Government will strongly oppose the National Education Policy, 2020. The Union Government’s stand that the amount of Rs.3,458 crore due to Tamil Nadu under the ‘Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan’ will be released only if the three-language formula under the National Education Policy is implemented is unacceptable, he said.

Issues such as NEET examination, imposition of the National Education Policy and three-language formula have arisen consequent to education being in concurrent list of the Constitution. This Government will undertake all necessary efforts to move education from the Concurrent List to the State List, he said.

This Government will notify a new industrial policy that considers the present and future requirements and offers special incentive schemes for domestic and global companies to make fresh investments in Tamil Nadu.

This Government will enhance the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ environment by upgrading the Single Window System into a fully digital platform applicable to all sectors and granting all permissions swiftly without any administrative delay, he said.

A ‘Tamil Nadu Investor Promotion Commission’ will be established under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary with a view to attracting the investments of multinational companies. Through this Commission, measures will be taken to grant fast track permissions to start operations to companies investing more than ₹200 crore or providing employment to 5,000 persons, he said.

This department will facilitate the use of Artificial Intelligence tools to improve the efficiency of Government departments and to provide better e-governance services to the public, he said.

Published on June 18, 2026