A day after debuting within the Tamil Nadu Cabinet and taking up because the Industries Minister, three-time MLA T.R.B. Rajaa is assured concerning the job available. In an interview to The Hindu on Friday, he says he will work as a staff with Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu and Information Technology and Digital Services Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan. The focus is on subsequent yr’s Global Investors’ Meet (GIM).
The Chief Minister has allotted a key portfolio to you. This has evoked assorted reactions. As a debutant within the Cabinet, are you assured of dealing with the Industries Department?
Industries is a topic that has been near me. If you keep in mind, even after we have been within the Opposition, my first speech was on a budgetary demand for the Industries Department.
I have spoken concerning the division twice or thrice. One of the final speeches of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa within the Assembly was through the debate on the demand for the Industries Department when she intervened after I identified that investments weren’t coming into the State. I was at all times fascinated about how the division works — as a result of I imagine that is one sector which brings in additional investments that will assist to create jobs. I assume that creating jobs is as essential as offering schooling. My chief M.Okay. Stalin had seen me carry out as an Opposition MLA.
After the DMK authorities was shaped, I was made a member of the State Planning Commission. This was an enormous expertise; right here, as a staff, we labored on a number of insurance policies, together with the electrical automobile coverage, the tourism coverage, the textile coverage and the LGBTQI coverage. We had an excellent combine of individuals like Professor J. Jeyaranjan, vice-chairman of the State Planning Commission, and industrialist Mallika Srinivasan (who heads TAFE). It was an enormous studying expertise for me. All this helped me perceive how the division and the system work.
We noticed three essential investments come into the State previously week and former Industries Minister Thangam Thennarasu has handed over the baton to you at a superb run price. How do you propose to take the race from right here?
Who mentioned he has left?! As he’s the Finance Minister, we would want his help — and that of Information Technology and Digital Services Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan… We will want their help for the upcoming Global Investors Meet. This is a staff work.
You talked about concerning the GIM slated for January 2024. You had criticised the earlier two GIMs. So how totally different will the primary traders’ meet beneath the DMK authorities be?
If you take a look at the earlier GIMs (2015 and 2019) carried out by the AIADMK authorities, all that they put out was mere numbers. We will give attention to MoUs that will change into precise companies and create jobs. And, after all, any traders’ meet will have a couple of dropouts… In the final two years, the DMK authorities has been signing MoUs each three months.
The Chief Minister took half at numerous conferences and the very best quantity associated to the Industries Department. And this exhibits how eager he’s on bringing in investments… We don’t have any targets for the upcoming GIM; our solely goal is to make the investments translate into jobs. We are a big image and 2024 will be an enormous occasion. We have a staff of Guidance Tamil Nadu working with the staff of the Industries Department. When traders from different international locations meet the Guidance Tamil Nadu staff, they realise that it’s a staff of pros who’re precise funding seekers.
What are the important thing areas for you?
We are engaged on bringing in investments to the south of Tamil Nadu. Electric automobile is one sector that we might give attention to and R&D is one other. We are additionally welcoming corporations migrating from China. Tamil Nadu has good infrastructure to accommodate them.
We will focus extra on our girls workforce. We want girls’s participation to attain the goal, set by our Chief Minister, of creating the State a $1-trillion economic system by 2030. The Chief Minister may be very specific about offering extra jobs to girls. Demand for ladies labour will increase and we will have a superb quantity to inform you quickly.
