It's very exciting to be joined by Shweta Shalni, the spokesperson of the Baathi Janta Party. She's a renowned policy expert and has previously served as Executive Director of VSTF, which was a company formed by the government of Maharashtra, which worked towards the transformation of over 10 backward villages into model villages. She was also Entrepreneur of the Year in 2011 and is the proud owner of two It companies. Shweta, firstly, happy Republic Day to you
@ThinkTank · 0:22
Shuetta is a lot to be discussed when we think of Utter Pradesh and the elections. The Yogi Adityana government has been lauded for its work on infrastructure and welfare schemes. But how would you look at this when you compare it to to other BJP ruled States like Granata? And what would you say are the government's biggest achievements over the past five years
About 40 lakh farmers have benefited because almost three lakh, 60 0 ha of irrigation potential of their land has been increased. About 1.6 crop gas connections has been given to women. And these are the women who are going to vote for Yogi Adityanathji. Once again, two six crawl toilets have been created. About 1.5 crawled homes have seen electricity for the first time. About 40 lakh houses in the PMAwas Yoshi have been made
@ThinkTank · 0:24
You know, Shweta the narratives of all of the mainstream parties, especially in this election, are increasingly becoming polarized. And, you know, many would say that it's really bringing down the standards of public discourse, especially around during the time of elections. So how do you view these particular trends? And what would you say is the best way to hold our leaders accountable
I also want to add on to this answer of mine. I think I missed the Karnataka bit of your question. Please understand that Karnataka's GSDP, which is the GDP of the state, is nearly four times that of Utta Pradesh right now and hence because the base is lower, Uttar Pradesh today contributes to say 20%, nearly 19.6% rise year on year
We are a world largest democracy, the youth that actually goes out to vote. We are the world's large, youngest country and yet our youth does not care to figure out and find out that the people that he's voting for are good enough to lead him. Who feels criminals? What exactly happens when a person like Muktar and Sari goes and sits on the chair? What happens when A Nahidh Hasan is given a ticket? Why are gangsters allowed to contest and why do they win?
@ThinkTank · 0:55
And speaking of current political events, the formation of the Samajwadi Party and the RLL alliance, coupled with defections of prominent ministers and Swami Prasad Maurya, a set of bolstered the opposition. And this is going into the narrative that's being built by the Samajwadi Party that the BJP is a divided house and there is factionalism within the party. So how do you view the situation on the ground given these defections and what impact will this have on the voters
There are 45 central government schemes which has seen Utta Pradesh perform as number one and it is because of this that we are coming back to power with complete majority doing as well as we did last time and we believe in the people of Utopade because they will think beyond caste, Creed, color, gender and they will vote only for the future of Utter Pradesh and their own family
@ThinkTank · 0:26
Shatter. I'm glad that you brought up these welfare schemes that have been implemented on the ground as well. But quickly to sort of draw focus on one important event which took place before the elections, which was the government's decision to withdraw the farm bills. Now, these were contentious and there was a lot being said about it, and I understand that there's a lot of misinformation going on as well
And today, Sina Renza Modiji, with one decision has ensured that when he passes these bills in a modified format, the next time Yogi Ade Naji is going to be there to take it to the grassroot level, to the last farmer living, and to ensure that he gets the benefit that he deserves. Farmers are the future of India agriculture. 70% of our economy is aggregate even today. But we need to ensure that there needs to be corporatization of their farm goods so that they can get benefit
@ThinkTank · 0:42
Nashotha. I think we also need to pay some attention to this remarkable occasion which is Republic Day. So we're seeing a lot of focus being broadened to icons such as Nathanji, Subhashandra, Poros and Patel and several others. So how do you view the second term of the Narendra Modi government? And how do you react to opposition criticisms of the BJP selectively choosing to appropriate certain icons and ignoring others? Or maybe not really paying the respect that is due to leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi?
Thank you once again and to all the listeners, a very happy Republic Day. I think we are all proud to be Indians. I think there is absolutely no other place in the world beautiful as India. And I quite remember when I was much younger, we would wait for 26 January to open up our televisions and see the various kiosks. We would be filled with pride. I'm a soldier's daughter so I quite remember my father telling me stories as the kiosks
@ThinkTank · 0:40
Ashworth I have a couple of questions which I'll combine into this post. So firstly, you've actively worked in Maharashtra. How do you view the staggering rise in Pharma suicides? Now this is an issue which has been around from onwards since India was liberalized and it doesn't seem like it's reduced at any point. So what is your take on the farmer's issues? Because you've done a lot of rural transformation and development work on the ground across different parts Maharashtra
Having said that, the farmer issue is a key issue across the year, 20, 21, 25, 00 farmers committed suicide. And one of the primary reasons for Maharaja, apart from the political banter is that we need to ensure that these farmers are backed by the right kind of support systems. These farmers today are not backed with the right kind of support systems, especially with no government existing in Maharashtra because they have not got electricity
@ThinkTank · 0:14
Shirta it's been a fascinating conversation so far. I've really enjoyed listening to you and thanks so much for all the insights. I think it's now time to open this conversation up and we have a few users who would also like to hear your thoughts on some questions
Gaurav Chauhan
@Gaurav1106 · 1:06
Hi Shweta, thanks for being a part of this and happy to public day to you. Really loved your conversation. And when Swell posted about you on the Instagram, I really also got to see an insight of a politician or leader who's so I would say normalized because it feels like you're a human being. And when we think of politicians of the sorts and we look at such politicians, we always get this thing that these are superhuman so they're not going to be accessible to public
And I belong to a party where 70 years ago one man saw this dream and lost his life because article 370 should not be there. There needs to be one flag for the entire nation, one with Hans. And that is where 70 years later another man came from the blue, out of the blue and said that yes, I belong to this party and my ideology remains the same. I am going to do it now
My personal vision for politics is for politics to be based on performance. It is only when performance politics is going to be a reality that the paradigm of politics is going to change change. And sooner or later, even if politicians don't change it, I'm sure the youth of the nation, the voters are going to change this paradigm. And my vision is definitely going to be a reality
When he talked about Startup India, it ensured that the focus remains on MSMEs, on people who want to start up. The definition of startup changes only from mere technology startups. It got focused to innovation. So if you actually look at the rankings, we are faring extremely well. As far as innovations are concerned, we have gone up the rank in the global innovation index, we have come to about 48
Gaurav Chauhan
@Gaurav1106 · 0:22
Thank you. Shweta Saji makes a lot of sense. I would just like to say good luck to you and your future endeavors and also lots of love to Sarah will definitely be following you on Instagram and on Swell to keep us updated rated on what is going on in your life and as far as have a good one. Thank you so much for coming on as well. Bye
You need to believe that the judiciary is doing his job well. You need to believe that the executive is trying of course, we should question we can question, but do not fall for false narratives. Because if it is, the EVM is wrong or altered in places where BJP wins, why is it right when BJP loses
Abhishek Negi
@Abhishek1156 · 0:08
Hello Ma'am. Happy Republic Day. I just want to know what has life in the political system taught you about our system
@ThinkTank · 0:28
Well, Shweta. It's been a wonderful conversation. And on that optimistic note, I know I speak for everyone when I say that we've all learned so much from connecting with you here on Swell today. I really hope that we can have you back, maybe after the elections to decode everything that took place and hopefully get your points of view on some of the issues which are likely to take place in the next few years leading up to the general elections
Thank you, Karen. Thank you. Think Tank team. And thank you to the entire swell team. Thank you for having me in here. And definitely, Karen, whenever you call me next. But most importantly, this is an app, ongoing app. And I'm sure there are going to be more connections and people are going to be keep posting questions, and I'm going to be available at least a few minutes a day when I'm traveling