Union Minister for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the Finance Commission has been formulating schemes to achieve the targets of Vikshit Bharat in the next 25 years. Speaking at the Chennai Citizen Forum in Chennai today, she informed that natural disaster aspects are also being looked at. Ms Nirmala Sitaraman said that there are external challenges, like an open policy of tariffs from the US. She also listed the Ukraine war, Chinese trade and international fluctuations, among other issues.

She said that the PM’s internship programme will train the youth to equip them to meet the challenges. She said that daycare cancer centres will be set up in all the districts. The finance minister said that the agriculture sector also needs to be transformed. She said that 112 aspirational districts are being given priority to be developed. The human indices have been identified in these districts.

She said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished that agricultural production should be increased in 109 backward districts. Ms Sitaraman said that artificial intelligence science and innovation are also given importance. The finance minister said that in the past ten years, Tamil Nadu has benefitted in many ways and listed out the various schemes. She said that 12 lakh people benefitted through the Jan Dhan Yojana, 89 lakh families were given new water connections, and 41 lakh people were beneficiaries of subsidised gas cylinder connections.

The finance minister said that generic drugs, at an average of 40 to 60 Rs, were available, benefitting people at large. She informed that under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, 79 lakh families benefitted. She said that 4100 km of national highways were modernised in the past ten years. She also said that 1333 new rail tracks were laid and 2242 railway networks were electrified. The finance minister said that 54 km of metro rail was also operationalised.