A White Paper on the Tamil Nadu government’s finances is getting the finishing touches. “The document is likely to be ready in a few days,” says a senior official.

When he assumed office last month, Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay announced that his government would come out with a White Paper. He claimed the previous DMK government had left behind “an empty treasury”. In fact, on Saturday, Finance Minister N. Marie Wilson said in Nagapattinam that it would take two weeks for the document to be finalised.

Now, the government is planning to present the White Paper in the Assembly, just as the AIADMK government did in August 2001. At that time, Finance Minister C. Ponnaiyan presented a White Paper as a part of his Budget speech for 2001-02. However, 20 years later, before presenting the Budget to the Assembly, the DMK government released a similar document at a press conference addressed by the then Finance Minister, Palanivel Thiaga Rajan.

Given the tight financial position of the government, several election promises of the TVK will likely remain only on paper.

According to a conservative estimate, it would require over ₹1 lakh crore a year to fully implement around a dozen promises, including the increase in the monthly assistance for women from ₹1,000 to ₹2,500, free bus travel for women across the State, six free refills of cooking gas cylinders, one-sovereign gold coins for eligible women at the time of marriage, gold rings for children who are born in government hospitals, ₹3,000 in old age pension, and the grant of ₹15,000 a year to parents or guardians of school-going children (up to Class 12).

The government has only implemented the diluted versions of the promises of 200 units of free electricity every month for the domestic category and a full waiver of crop loans taken by small and marginal farmers from cooperative societies along with a 50% waiver for big farmers.

Though the free electricity for the domestic consumers has not triggered any adverse response, the decision on the crop loan waiver is being criticised by different parties, including the allies of the ruling TVK and farmers’ bodies.

The government has not yet spelt out how it is going to implement the increase in the monthly assistance for women as the annual burden will be approximately ₹39,000 crore, even if it chooses to cover only the present strength of 1.3 crore beneficiaries.

As agriculturists are unhappy over the crop loan waiver, an agricultural expert, referring to the promise of ₹15,000 a year to each farmer, suggests that the government dovetail its scheme of annual support to farmers with the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), under which every beneficiary is paid ₹6,000 a year. At present, nearly 22 lakh farmers have been covered in the State under the PM-KISAN. If the State tops up with ₹9,000 a year for every farmer, it will incur only about ₹1,980 crore annually. Else, it will be ₹3,300 crore.

A couple of developments have to take place before the release of the White Paper. The State Cabinet has not met formally even once. The date is to be fixed for Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar to address the Assembly.

In Tamil Nadu, the Cabinet is briefed of the broad contours of the Governor’s address and the State Budget as there is no tradition of the Cabinet giving its approval for the address or the Budget. Last week, Mr. Arlekar, who is also the Governor for Kerala, delivered his address to the Kerala Assembly. The State government has not decided on the Governor’s address because it is waiting for the Centre to appoint a full-fledged Governor.