Needs to improve administrative mechanism: PTR

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu minister for finance and human resources Palanivel Thiaga Rajan on Thursday stressed the need to improve administrative mechanism of various governments to curb the gap between the intent and implementation of executive decisions.

The need for hiring more talent should be in tune with the growth of the economy and the ever-growing population, he said.

“In the case of Tamil Nadu, we have hundreds of (statutory) boards, besides various departments. But we have just around 300 IAS officials to administer them,” Palanivel Thiaga Rajan said, while addressing the 12th edition of The India Finance Forum - "Beyond Resilience: Turnaround & Transformation" – organized by the CII to discuss the post-Covid scenario of the economy and its ability to bounce back. There is an urgent need to hire a think-tank to support the government’s decision making, he added.

Citing the instance of large fiscal incentive package announced by the Union government in the aftermath of the impact of the Covid pandemic, Thiaga Rajan said several bank managers in tier 2 towns and cities in Tamil Nadu are not even aware of the incentives and schemes announced by the Centre for the MSME sector affected by the pandemic.

“There is a huge gap between our intent and ability to execute the same. This is where cooperative federalism should come into play with the Centre, all state governments and the local bodies being on the same line to implement such decisions. It is easy to reach the corporates at the top of the pyramid, but it is difficult to reach the middle and the bottom of the pyramid,” Thiaga Rajan said. According to him, there is an urgent need to change the way the GST system, which is the backbone of the country’s revenue stream, is functioning, with most officials working as part-timers. “The GST Council is headed by the revenue secretary, which already is a full-time job. So is the case with several other secretaries that are part of the Council. We need officials who will focus on the GST system full time,” he said.

 

 

Media: DT.TEXT.COM