Verbatim passages, repetitions: DMK's plagiarism charge against TVK's White Paper

The political slugfest over Tamil Nadu's finances has intensified, with the DMK accusing the TVK government of copying portions of its White Paper from a 2021 DMK report. The party has also questioned several headline fiscal claims made in the document, alleging that they are based on selective and misleading interpretations of official data.

In Short

• Report says identical 22-word passages appear without any attribution
• Sections on PSUs and water sector allegedly mirror 2021 document
• DMK questions claims of "highest-ever" revenue deficit using provisional figures

The TVK government's White Paper on Tamil Nadu's finances under the previous MK Stalin administration is now facing plagiarism allegations.

India Today has accessed the DMK's counter-report, which claims that the Vijay-led government's White Paper borrowed extensively from the DMK's own 2021 White Paper that had examined the finances of the then AIADMK government.

"Forensic comparison compares eight categories of textual and structural copying," the DMK report states.

Earlier this week, the TVK government released a White Paper claiming that Tamil Nadu's overall financial liabilities had risen to an estimated Rs 13.18 lakh crore, with the state's outstanding direct debt nearly doubling to around Rs 10 lakh crore over the past five years.

'VERBATIM PASSAGES, UNATTRIBUTED DATA'

The DMK's rebuttal alleges that several sections of the TVK document contain verbatim passages, including sentence runs of up to 22 consecutive identical words without attribution. It further claims that portions dealing with Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and the water sector were lifted almost word-for-word from the 2021 White Paper.

The report also challenges several fiscal claims made by the TVK government. According to the DMK, the White Paper repeatedly relies on a limited set of figures and superlative descriptions that are not fully supported by the underlying data presented in official documents and charts.

Among the claims flagged is the TVK government's assertion of a "highest-ever" revenue deficit. The DMK report argues that the figure was based on a provisional pre-audit projection rather than final audited accounts, potentially exaggerating the scale of the deficit.

'SEVERAL TOOLS USED FOR ANALYSIS'

The DMK said it employed multiple methodologies to compare the two documents, including sentence-level verbatim matching, n-gram scanning of identical word sequences, near-paraphrase detection techniques, and structural comparisons of tables, charts and section architecture.

The report further stated that factual claims made in the TVK White Paper were cross-verified using Tamil Nadu Budget documents, analyses by PRS Legislative Research, State Finances reports published by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), and material submitted before the Sixteenth Finance Commission.

"The analysis compares the two White Papers using sentence-level verbatim matching, near-paraphrase detection, and structural comparison of tables and section architecture," the report said.

TVK GOVERNMENT'S WHITE PAPER

The White Paper on Tamil Nadu's finances, which examined the fiscal position inherited from the previous MK Stalin-led government, was among Vijay's first major announcements after being sworn in as Chief Minister last month.

According to the document, Tamil Nadu's direct debt has risen sharply from around Rs 4.8 lakh crore five years ago to nearly Rs 10 lakh crore at present. When off-budget borrowings, guarantees and other liabilities are included, the state's total financial burden is estimated at Rs 13.18 lakh crore.

The TVK government argued that the debt accumulated over the last five years exceeded the total debt accumulated during the previous six decades. It also claimed that a significant portion of the borrowings had been used to finance day-to-day expenditure rather than create long-term infrastructure assets.

It noted that for every rupee earned by the government, 22.8 paise is spent on servicing interest payments, reflecting the mounting burden of debt obligations on the state's finances.

DMK SLAMS TVK GOVERNMENT'S WHITE PAPER

Following the release of the White Paper, the DMK accused the TVK government of using the document to mask its "administrative failures" and "unfulfilled electoral promises". Senior DMK leader Thangam Thenarasu dismissed the document as a "total flop" and an exercise in "political escapism".

"The financial position of Tamil Nadu has already been explained clearly and in detail during the presentation of the state budget," Thenarasu said in a social media post.

The former finance minister alleged that the current dispensation came to power on the back of "firework-like promises" but had failed to deliver due to administrative inefficiency.

According to him, the White Paper was little more than a diversionary exercise aimed at deflecting public anger over the government's inability to fulfil key election commitments. He further claimed that the report was released out of concern that people would soon begin demanding the implementation of the welfare schemes promised during the election campaign.

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