She said she was looking forward to the New Health Policy and recalled her government's ‘ambitious target' of Tamil Nadu becoming ‘Open Defecation Free' by 2015.
She also expressed happiness over the Centre's commitment to provide 33 per cent reservation to women in Parliament and state legislatures and applauded the ‘inclusive spirit' of the President's address which she said had addressed issues relating to “all disadvantaged sections” including SC/STs,BCs, minorities and the specially-abled persons.
Centre's “co-operative federalism” was praiseworthy and it will restore the federal spirit that had been diluted in the previous decade, Jayalalithaa said.
“I look forward to the concrete shape such co-operative federalism would take and using it to further the development agenda of Tamil Nadu. After all it takes strong states to have a strong Union,” she said.
Jayalalithaa said while she was not opposed to the support the Centre gives to specific states, she would only urge the Government to carefully consider the implications of granting fiscal incentives, especially area based tax exemptions, taking into account the economic activity in neighbouring states.
