Destination Tamil Nadu

There are reasons to be happy for those who are making Tamil Nadu their home. A recent survey by “India Today” shows Tamil Nadu as one of the top performing states in the country under several parameters for the year 2008

Parameter	Ranking	Status	Variables
BIG STATES	2	Rank went up	Big states are those with an area of over 35,000 sq km and over 5 million population
AGRICULTURE	3	Rank went down	Percentage of cropped area under cash crops, food grain yield, GSDP-Rural population, Net irrigated and Net sown area, Loans extended for crops, Power consumption for agriculture
PRIMARY HEALTH	1	Rank went up	Inverse of infant mortality ratio, percentage of assisted births, homes with access to tap water, doctors/lakh population, sex ratio, expenditure on health and family welfare
INVESTMENT ENVIRONMENT	4	Rank went up	Percentage of state GDP spent on administration, per capita capital expenditure, commercial bank credit, capital formation, number of factories, industrial sickness, number of industrial workers per urban population
PRIMARY EDUCATION	4	Rank went up	Literacy rate, Proportion of 10-plus children having completed primary education, ratio of girls to boys enrolled in schools, teacher-pupil ratio, total expenditure on primary-plus school/population
INFRASTRUCTURE	4	Rank went up	Percentage of households with electricity, Percentage of villages connected with pucca roads, no of post offices/population, tele-connectivity
MACRO ECONOMY	7	Rank went up	Urbanisation, 100-head count raio, capital expenditure/population, GDP deflator, GSDP for power, gas and water supply
CONSUMER MARKETS	7	Rank went down	Households owning TV, bank deposits, 2 wheeler population, affluent homes in rural area
LAW & ORDER	2	Constant Rank	Actual strength of civil policemen/lakh population, percentage of pending cases, total cognizable crimes/incidence of murder, kidnapping, rape and molestation

Courtesy: India Today

Tamil Nadu and Chennai in particular have always been close to my heart; I did my engineering from Chennai in 1979-84 and again returned to the city in 1999. In the beginning I used to curse the city for its pot holes, erratic traffic, people’s sense of hygiene, water crisis, lungis and so on. But eventually I fell in love with the city and started enjoying the ‘Thayir Sadham’ (Dahi Chawal) after a meal.To top it when I started longing for filter coffee in the morning and craving for Pongal Vadai I realised it was time to convert into being a Tamilian ( of course without lungi).

I bought an apartment for myself here, so that I don’t make a further movement. I already had my stints in Calcutta and Delhi and was sick of moving from one city to another. While this decision of making TN my home came from heart, many physical parameters as mentioned above have made TN an attractive investment as well as a living destination.

Tamil Nadu is one of the most progressive and industrialized states in India and the second largest industrialized state in the country. Evolving as the economic hotspot of India, the state today has become a melting pot and a second home for people from different cultures, who have settled down here and contributed to its growth and development.

Making, tremendous progress in social and economic infrastructure the state has emerged as the manufacturing powerhouse with mega projects in conjunction with private sector participation. Investment proposals in Tamil Nadu are cleared under single window clearance, the Investment friendly policies of the Government of Tamil Nadu helps the state to boast of many heavy engineering and vehicle manufacturing companies. To an extent that Chennai today is known as the Detroit of South Asia. When it comes to film production and entertainment , Tamil Nadu has almost 40 % of the entire country’s production including undertaking many outsourcing work for international film houses . Can we call it then the Hollywood of South Asis ? It is anyway also called the Manchester of India considering its huge textile exports .

The large number of engineering institutions and reputed vocational training institutes has further augmented the state’s claim for providing good quality education thereby making the state as oxford of the country. The state has given utmost priority to social welfare and in this context the investment in social sector development has gone up to 43% of its total plan outlay. Human development index is one of its key indicators for economic growth. Aspiring to become the number one in ICT revenue, the State now becoming the Silicon Valley of India. You can take a drive down the knowledge corridor to see it yourself.

With a rich culture and a glorious past the State today is marching ahead in realizing its vision of providing equitable growth to its residents by taking developments to Tier II and Tier III cities. This all round growth thus would ensure growth is not lopsided like the way we are witnessing in Bangalore today.

Vanakkam Tamilagam