Tamil Nadu has not introduced any scheme to increase employment generation in the state, claims K. Annamalai, former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president in Coimbatore on February 17, 2026 (Tuesday).
He told the media that according to the state’s preliminary budget tabled on Tuesday, the state’s debt-to-GDP ratio has not decreased. Instead, the national debt is ₹9.29 crore in 2025–26 and is projected to rise to ₹10.62 crore in the next fiscal.
The Tamil Nadu government will borrow ₹1.33 crore in one year. According to the budget revenue projection last year, the state was expected to generate ₹3.31 crore in revenue. However, the actual realization is ₹3.09 crore. So ₹21,871 crore is missing. “This is a non-revenue-spending government,” he said.
When the DMK came to power four years ago, the gross enrollment ratio in higher education was 49%. This year, it decreased by two percentage points to 47%. The allocation for the higher education department is increased by just ₹ 11 crore. However, the government has announced that it will renovate Anna University at a cost of ₹1,380 crore. Allotment for VB-G RAM G (Rural Employment Scheme) has been reduced and only 23,879 people have applied for ‘Kalaignar Kaivinai Thittam’. The central government is implementing the Vishwakarma scheme and though it is not implemented in Tamil Nadu, nearly eight thousand people from the state have registered for it.
The DMK government said it had spent ₹8,100 crore on the renovation of the temple. However, she only spent about ₹82 million. It should release a white paper on the amount spent on temples. The agriculture sector in the state grew by just 3% while in Gujarat it grew at a CAGR of 10% when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat for 10 years, he claimed.
The Central Government’s PLI scheme is a vehicle for the development of electronic clusters in the state. The DMK government has not introduced any program to create jobs in Tamil Nadu, he said.
Published – 17th February 2026 21:00 IST