Approximately eight lakh beneficiaries of the Mukhya Mantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana have experienced a reduction in stipends by the Devendra Fadnavis-led government, citing overlap with benefits received under the Namo Shetkari Mahasanman Nidhi (NSMN) scheme.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Good evening, you're watching To The Point. I'm Preeti Chaudhary. We're going to get you the latest coming in in the ED charge sheet on Rahul and Sonia Gandhi also.
00:09There's been a bit of pruning when it comes down to the Ladki Bahen Yojana. All of that coming up first. Allow me to take you through the headlines.
00:18ED heat on Rahul and Sonia Gandhi. ED files charge sheet in National Herald case against Gandhi. Samson Roda also named. Congress calls it vendetta and intimidation.
00:30Union Minister Kiran Rijiju signs Kerala's Munnambam to defend Vox Act changes. Says Pan-India Vox reject coming soon. Rijiju met victims in Kochi village.
00:51Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Stalin moves resolution for more autonomy for states. Creates a high-level committee. Must re-evaluate constitution.
00:59BJP calls it separatism.
01:04Ram Mandir in Ayodhya gets a bomb threat on email. Cybercell launches probe into threat. Mail phrase to Tamil Nadu.
01:14Retail inflation at 67 months low falls to 3.4% in March. Lowest since August 2019.
01:21China halts Boeing jet deliveries from United States. China escalates trade war with Trump. Chinese airlines told not to buy Boeing jets.
01:36All right. Top story. ED trouble coming in for the Gandhis in the National Herald money laundering case in a major development.
01:50The enforcement directorate has filed a charge sheet against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
01:56Along with Sonia and Rahul, the prosecution complaint submitted in Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court also names Congress overseas chief Sam Petroda, Suman Dubey and others.
02:06The court will hear arguments on cognizance on April 25th. Congress has of course called it political vendetta targeting Sonia and Rahul Gandhi.
02:15The ED probe began in 2014 after a complaint by Subramaniam Swamy who alleged AGL properties worth over 2,000 crores were taken over for just 50 lakhs.
02:25It is a very long time. It is going on. And it's totally revengeful.
02:34Motilal Vora, they have filed charges against Motilal Vora. Whether he will take out from the grave or what, they have filed charges against Oscar Fernandes.
02:45Where is Oscar Fernandes? From where he will bring before the court. It is all revengeful.
02:52Basically, Bharati Janata Party, they are scared of Gandhi Pariwar and Congress Party.
03:00They have this strong feeling it is only Congress Party which is an alternative to Bharati Janata Party and may form the commit.
03:08That is the reason revengefully they are doing all this.
03:13What about someone? His case was in 2008 after 17 years. You are summoning him. After 17 years. You have no evidence. No proof.
03:27So just you are defaming this Gandhi family. Nothing else.
03:30At this point of time, all I can see is another destruction tactic by the government while the country is burning over the Waqaf issue.
03:39And also with Rahul Gandhi calling out Gandhi in Gujarat. These are political optics. You have to keep the issue burning so that people have something to talk about.
03:53That's all I can say. It might sound like being defensed but this is what has been happening in this country for the last so many years.
03:59They keep bringing the Gandhi's in the picture. They keep bringing Congress in the picture. If corruption was the issue, what happened to 3G, 4G? What happened to CAG? Why haven't you been able to have a conviction in 13 or 11 years of BJP rule yet?
04:16That's an expected sort of reaction coming from the Congress party, Rahul. In fairness, we need to go back to the merits of the case.
04:26The National Herald matter involves the takeover of the National Herald by a company called Young Indians. Broadly, the entire assets shifted for a paltry sum to the control of the Nehru Gandhi family.
04:41If I recall correctly, the Nehru Gandhi family, Sonia Gandhi and others are possibly out on bail.
04:51Several related issues also, they did not get any legal sort of benefit because, after all, the matter had gone on before the Congress, before the income tax also.
05:02So, the answer lies in the merits of the case, rather than just simply coming up with a statement that this is vendetta politics.
05:11Secondly, if a charge sheet is filed by due process, it will now go before a court.
05:18The court will then look at whether charges need to be framed, take cognizance of it.
05:22And that would be an opportunity for them to be able to legally point out, is there enough material that cognizance of the charges should not be taken?
05:31But given the history and what is in the public domain, that is something while due process of court will decide on it, certainly there are some several very difficult questions that they need to answer.
05:43All right, we have lots of political opinion coming in at the back of it.
05:47The Congress understandably calling it political vendetta, diversionary tactics, the BJP saying that law is taking its course and the Gandhis will have to pay for what they have done.
05:58So, these are the allegations there.
06:00We are going to go, you know, deeper into the merits of the case.
06:02We will be joined by Munish in a short while from now.
06:04But I want to cut across to my colleague, Moshmi, who is going to be shortly joined by Prithviraj Chavan, former Maharashtra Chief Minister.
06:11And Moshmi, it's very, you know, it's interesting in a way because the entire Congress is now coming together to defend the Gandhis in this case.
06:18Some calling it political vendetta to diversionary tactics.
06:21Absolutely, Prithi.
06:22You know, the timing of it all, the Congress is questioning the timing of this entire ED filing the charge sheet saying that it is state-sponsored crime at large.
06:34And clearly, you know, they smell a rat there saying that the Bihar elections are around the corner.
06:41The center is cornered by the entire upping the ante of Rahul Gandhi over the caste census and perhaps not finding any relevant issue to hit back at the opposition leaders.
06:56Now, yet again, the state machinery is being misused grossly.
07:01And clearly, if you see, remember, Prithi, last time round in 2022 when ED had summoned Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
07:10Rahul Gandhi had gone hammer in tongs, rallying, telling in rallies how the ED officials didn't have anything to ask him.
07:19They just kept offering him water, kept him for hours, asking him the same questions, clearly driven by his master's voice.
07:28And that's one reason that we see that the Congress from all quarters is now giving multiple reactions.
07:36We've seen Jairam Ramesh go to social media and slam the government and the ED over the entire prosecution.
07:45What's going to be the political defense, you know, in all of this, Moshmi?
07:49Because, of course, the case is going to take its legal course.
07:51But what is the Congress that it will do in days to come to build a political defense where they try and bolster their case, where they call it vendetta?
08:02Right, Prithi, you know, this is a very raw nerve of the Congress, yet the Congress knows that Sonia Gandhi targeted, they can turn it into an entire emotional campaign of how Sonia Gandhi, you know, has been singled out in this one.
08:19And how the Gandhi family, in fact, with Rahul Gandhi also being named in the chart sheet, is being singled out.
08:28And if you see in the last time round when Rahul Gandhi's membership of the parliament was annulled,
08:37at that point of time, you know, the Congress reaped political dividends out of the fact that Rahul Gandhi said his house was taken away and he was being solely singled out just because he was speaking against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
08:52So that's the, that's the key focus of the Congress. They will build on the fact that we are the chief opposition.
08:59We are the ones who criticize Prime Minister Narendra Modi unhindered, fearlessly, and that's why the Congress's top leadership are being targeted this way.
09:10We saw last time round how Malika Arjun Kharge, you know, went all out, you know, even going to the National Herald's office in Delhi, you know, that has now been chaspat.
09:21So clearly, this, they are not going to take it, lying down and turn it into a political war.
09:28Alright, so they're going to turn it into a political war of sorts, but Moshmi, there has to also, you know, A, there's a political front which one can see already play out where the entire Congress leadership coming together to defend the Gandhis on this, calling it political vendetta.
09:44And we know how this is going to play out. But there will also be a legal purview in all of it.
09:51Many would suggest, you know, that would need to come out sharper in terms of what is their defense on the charges that have been made by the ED.
10:00What is it that the Congress is saying? What is it that the Gandhi say in terms of appropriation of that property where the National Herald case is concerned?
10:08They allegedly, of course, these are all allegations, bought for something as, you know, for peanuts, literally.
10:15That's right, Preeti. Perhaps the legal front will be the front that they will have to work out very meticulously.
10:26And that's why they would have the best team of lawyers to put forth their case.
10:31Remember that the Supreme Court repeatedly has refused to quash the entire matter.
10:38And it was the Supreme Court that, in fact, gave them bail but refused to quash the entire case.
10:43So there was some grounds to which the ED was handed over that entire investigation.
10:49And, you know, we had several calls intervening on that.
10:54One second, don't keep putting me on air when we don't know.
10:55So that the legal front will have to be worked threadbare.
10:59And the Congress has given that argument that this is an absolutely bogus case that has been built out of thin air,
11:09like the cases that were, in fact, you know, built during the UPA II era.
11:16And that's one reason that this won't stick.
11:19Like the 2G scam or the Commonwealth Games scam, they never stuck in the court.
11:23This one will also not stick in the court.
11:26Because Rahul Gandhi himself has claimed that there has been no benefit of one penny in the entire matter.
11:33And the entire matter is just plain vendetta.
11:36I'm going to just cut you short.
11:38Let's listen in to Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who's, of course, putting forth the defense of the Gandhis in this charge sheet.
11:43Listen in.
11:44By the person including the former Congress President Sonia Gandhiji.
11:49I think the government by such matters is only exposing itself and its campaign of political vendetta.
11:58Because there is absolutely nothing in this case in a legal sense.
12:04So that's Abhishek Manu Singhvi. I want to cut across to my colleague Shrishti Oja, who's joining us.
12:12You heard what the political implications of this is for the Congress and the kind of defense they are building politically.
12:18What could be the legal implication of this, Shrishti?
12:21Would you take us through?
12:22Well, pretty legally speaking, this is quite an important, very crucial step as far as the case in a case against Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald matter is concerned.
12:34ED has filed a prosecution complaint, which itself is a very major step as far as the criminal procedure regarding any case is concerned.
12:42In this particular case, money laundering allegations have been made against Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Sam Pitrota in the charge sheet.
12:48Another important step would be the issue of cognizance when the court will consider taking cognizance of this charge sheet on 25th April.
12:55Now, firstly, the court will have to hear the arguments that will be put forth by the ED explaining the charges that it is invoking against the Gandhis,
13:04the offenses that it's claiming they have committed, and also the evidence based on which such charges are being raised against the Gandhis in their charge sheet.
13:15Days after hearing the arguments of both sides, the court would then take a call whether or not there's a prima facie case made in this particular case to even take cognizance of the prosecution complaint.
13:25Once that happens, the court will decide to summon the accused in the matter in this particular case being Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Sam Pitrota.
13:36So, on 25th April, we will have to see what the court, the view that the court will take after going through the details of the charge sheet and the offenses,
13:46which have been, which the ED will try to make out against the accused in this case.
13:50Not just that the court has also specifically asked to be provided with a case diaries, considering the matter has been going on.
13:57Let me quickly let you go. Would you very simply for our viewers, you know, break it down shortly on what is it that the Gandhis are charged off?
14:07And what can we expect in days to come?
14:10Well, Priti, we're talking about the ED's probe in this case, which had formally begun in 2021 based on a private complaint back from 2014.
14:21There are accusations that have been made against Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and other readers of basically orchestrating a fraud takeover of AGL's properties,
14:30which according to them is estimated to be worth over 2,000 crores through Young Indian for a nominal sum of to be 500 lakh.
14:39So, in short, money laundering allegations have been made.
14:42These allegations have now also been formalized by filing this particular charge sheet against Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Sam Pitrota.
14:50The court will now have to consider this charge sheet that has been filed by the ED.
14:54After arguments happen before the court with regard to cognizance, the court decides whether or not it will take cognizance of this particular prosecution complaint.
15:03If it decides to take cognizance, it will then have to summon the accused, which in this case are Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Sam Pitrota,
15:11who will have to appear before the court mark their appearance.
15:14After that, the filing of charge sheet basically in a way implies a shift from the investigation process to the judicial process.
15:22Because till now the investigating agencies was conducting the investigation.
15:25Now the matter has reached the court where the judicial process in a way will be started.
15:31Accused will have to come before court. The legal teams will have to argue before court.
15:35And as the process goes, once this process takes place, eventually we will also see the trial go on forward,
15:43given the court decides to take cognizance of this particular prosecution complaint.
15:47Where eventually, as part of the trial, we also see arguments and framing of charges.
15:52Then the court decides which charges are eventually to be framed against the accused concern.
15:57And then further in the trial, we see the court decide on whether there has to be a conviction or an acquittal.
16:03But as of now, July 25th April would be an important day to see what arguments the ED will put forth before the court,
16:10because it will in most likelihood lay down in detail the offences and also the allegations that it has made against these accused in its charge sheet.
16:21And also whether or not the court will decide to take cognizance of this particular prosecution complaint. Back to you.
16:26All right, Srishti, appreciate you joining us with those details.
16:30Now, while all of this goes on, viewers, expect a solid amount of political posturing.
16:35And that's going to come and already started from both sides of the divide, be it the BJP or the Congress Party.
16:39With that, let's quickly shift focus to our other big story that we are debating this evening.
16:45And that comes in from the state of Maharashtra.
16:47Because what's really happened is we saw the Ladki Bahin Yojana that practically won the election for the NDA in Maharashtra come in with much fanfare.
16:56But what's happened down the line is a bit of pruning, snipping away of that particular scheme.
17:02Over eight lakh women now in the state of Maharashtra would not get that fifteen hundred rupees of the Ladki Bahin Yojana, but just five hundred.
17:11Why so? Take a look.
17:13Ladki Bahin Yojana now conditional.
17:18The scheme that won Maharashtra for the NDA becomes a political flashpoint.
17:27For over eight lakh women, the fifteen hundred rupees direct cash transfer is said to be now reduced to five hundred rupees.
17:37For the latest correction, women availing any other direct cash transfer scheme in the state of Maharashtra will now get only five hundred rupees and not fifteen hundred rupees as earlier.
17:54For example, women farmers on the benefit role of the Kisan Sammad Nidhi scheme will receive only five hundred monthly from here on.
18:04The Kisan Sammad Nidhi jointly funded by the central and state government provides twelve thousand annually.
18:10In contrast, the Ladki Bahin Yojana offers eighteen thousand rupees per year.
18:16Consequently, women benefiting from the Kisan Sammad Nidhi will now receive only the difference of six thousand annually, equivalent to five hundred per month.
18:30According to the new terms of condition for the Ladki Bahin Yojana, women availing benefits from other government schemes are not eligible for the full amount.
18:41With this reduction, the opposition has sensed blood, alleging that the Ladki Bahin Yojana was introduced as a vote bank strategy during elections.
18:52The £15 million received at this time, which includes 15 hundred rupees per month and the government keeping the level of the Kisan Sammad Nidhi's conditions.
19:02If the government is doing well with money and the government is doing well, the government is doing well.
19:07The government was doing well with the government.
19:08The government reached the public and the government was working with the government on trade.
19:13In response, Maharashtra government is in an overdrive to damage control.
19:43With the political slugfest peaking, the underlying message is clear to even opposition-run states.
19:56Call it welfarism, populism, freebies, revli or handouts.
20:04Direct cash transfers are a double-edged sword.
20:08The bloodletting continues way beyond the polling booth.
20:12Top Focus on To The Point this evening.
20:17Alright, so what we're seeing in Maharashtra, is it only limited to Maharashtra?
20:20Not quite, because the Congress is going all out suggesting that,
20:24listen, they never really had the money, there was no intention, it was a jumla during elections.
20:29But, their own Chief Minister in Telangana has put his hands up,
20:32says he doesn't have the money to pay for the welfare schemes that the Congress announced to win Telangana elections.
20:38Listen in to Revan Threddy.
20:39How are you going to pay for the guarantees?
20:454,000 rupees to unemployed youth?
20:46I'm going to ask you a question, Rajdeep Ji.
20:49If you had the wrong money, I was the wrong money.
20:523.75 lakh crore's debt.
20:55This income is, according to this, we can do something.
20:58But, after sitting in the seat, we don't know the truth.
21:01Come on, come on.
21:03Chief Minister is telling us that you realized only after you became Chief Minister that you can't pay for your guarantees.
21:09It's not guarantees, repayment of loans.
21:12I'm not saying that I'm not going to pay for guarantees.
21:15I'm not able to repay for my guarantees.
21:18But, you admit, Mr. Reddy, fiscally it's not prudent.
21:21This guarantee business, revenue, guarantee, whatever you might call it.
21:24So, you think there should be a national debate on this so-called rave lease?
21:47Definitely, definitely, instead of one nation, one election, instead of delimitation, instead of other things, we have to discuss on this.
21:55We don't get any money to invest on capital expenditure.
21:58I'm sorry to say I'm not able to invest every month 500 crore's.
22:02Not even 500 crore's I'm not going to spend on my capital investment.
22:06So, what do you have to do in the future, what do you have to do in the future, what do you have to do in the future?
22:10All right, so the Congress might point fingers at the Eknath Shinde promises during Maharashtra elections.
22:22Devendra Fadnavis, the incumbent Chief Minister, for not delivering on his promises right now in Maharashtra.
22:28But the Congress is exactly in the same boat.
22:31So, it cuts both ways, viewers.
22:32The questions that I asked this evening, revision of the Ladki Bahen Yojana,
22:37are essential for cash-strapped Maharashtra, clearly.
22:41There's a very simple answer to that.
22:43The scheme only a poll promise meant to attract women voters.
22:46And that cuts not just for the Ladki Bahen Yojana,
22:49but for schemes offered in other states of the opposition as well, which are direct cash transfers.
22:54Our direct cash transfer scheme, sustainable beyond elections, the freebie culture,
22:59pushing states into fiscal instability.
23:02Let's cut across to our guest, Sanju Verma,
23:04National Spokesperson BJP, Susi Ben Shah, Spokesperson Shiv Sena,
23:08Charan Singh Sapra, National Spokesperson Congress,
23:11Anish Gawande, Spokesperson NCP,
23:13NCP Sharad Pawar faction.
23:16We're going to give all of you two minutes each to make your point.
23:18And Sanju Verma, let's begin with you.
23:20Because what really happened, Sanju Verma, so much fanfare.
23:241,500 is going to be raised when we come to power to 2,100 rupees.
23:288 lakh women are now hoping to clutch on to 500 rupees, you know, and there are more cuts.
23:33Because you did constitute a panel to revise, to prune the existing schemes for your own fiscal benefit.
23:42You know, Preeti, with no offense to none, let me make this very clear.
23:46You know, the point is that many people in the media, they don't read, they don't write,
23:54they don't do their homework, and they start peddling false narratives with no offense to you,
23:58you do your homework and I'll tell you why.
24:01If you look at PM Kisan, one of the eligibility criteria is that if you're getting 6,000 rupees a year
24:08from PM Kisan as cash transfer, you as a beneficiary are not eligible to take cash benefits
24:16from any other welfare schemes of the Modi government.
24:20Now, what has been the eligibility criteria for Ladki Bahing Yojana?
24:24A, that the concerned woman should be between 18 to 65 years of age.
24:28B, her annual income should not exceed rupees 2.5 lakhs per annum.
24:34C, her husband should not be having a government job.
24:38Because, you know, you have a spouse in the house who's earning 6 lakhs or 7 lakhs or 10 lakhs
24:43and the woman is claiming, you know, benefits under Ladki Bahing, that is absolutely not acceptable.
24:50The fourth and most important point is that the woman beneficiary should have a bank account
24:55and more importantly, her bank account should be linked to Aadhaar.
25:00So, let me reinforce very clearly the fact that if you're a beneficiary under Ladki Bahing Yojana,
25:06you cannot take cash benefits via cash transfers from any other Modi government's welfare schemes was always there.
25:16And this was also the case with PM Kisan.
25:19If you're taking benefits under PM Kisan, you cannot get benefits under Ladki Bahing Yojana.
25:24So, that's the first point.
25:26The second point is this.
25:28We have allocated 36,000 crores for Ladki Bahing.
25:32The Forest Department has allocated another 10,000 crores and the Social Justice Department has allocated another 10,000 crores.
25:39So, the total outlay is 56,000 crores.
25:43All right, your time is up, Sanju Verma, and I'm going to circle back to you because you are, you know, you spoke of, you know, not doing enough research,
25:51but I did understand.
25:51You didn't mean it for me, but I'll just, because I have done some research.
25:54So, let me, you know, I'll also come back, you know, to you on that point because you say that fine print was always there.
26:01It wasn't there, Sanju Verma.
26:02It was the new member panel committee which was constituted.
26:05Fine print is always there.
26:06Ma'am, I will come back.
26:07Ma'am, allow me.
26:08Ma'am, allow me.
26:09Then, then there was a, ma'am, allow me to make my point.
26:12You can't shout me down.
26:14Ma'am, you cannot shout me down.
26:15Ma'am, you can't shout me down.
26:16Allow me to make my point.
26:18I will, I will come back to you.
26:19Allow me to make, allow me to make my point and you can challenge me.
26:23Trying to shout me down is going to benefit no one.
26:25All I'm just saying is, all I am just saying is those, those eight lakh women, then if that, if the fine print was always there,
26:34then there was an oversight because eight lakh women who were earlier on getting fifteen hundred rupees hoping to get twenty one hundred rupees are now going to get five hundred rupees.
26:44So, they should have got five hundred rupees right from the word go.
26:46They didn't.
26:47They were getting fifteen hundred rupees.
26:49So, that has been pruned.
26:50Whether you want to contest it or you don't, thank you for your patience.
26:54I'll circle back to you, ma'am.
26:56I will circle back to you.
26:59Allow me to circle.
27:01Ma'am, I'm not making any reckless allegations.
27:03So, all I'm saying is these women who were getting, you have never read the fine print.
27:08Ma'am, then, okay, then possibly, ma'am, ma'am, possibly, if there was that, if you insist, there was always that fine print,
27:18if you insist, there was always that fine print, then maybe, possibly, the administrator, the administration did not read the fine print themselves
27:26because women who were getting fifteen hundred, eight lakh women are now going to get five hundred.
27:32Now, I'll circle back to you.
27:35Ma'am, I will circle back to you.
27:37Allow me to expand the debate.
27:38It's not an argument between a Sanju Verma and a Preeti Chaudhary.
27:41Your feeder is going to go down and I'll circle back to you.
27:44You'll get your time to contradict me and say whatever you wish to.
27:47I want to go to Charan Singh Sapra because Charan Singh Sapra, you know, you can turn around and say,
27:50see, we told you so, this was all an electoral jumla.
27:54Then, one can quickly turn around and say, didn't you, you know, maybe pick up the phone and speak to the chief minister of Telangana?
28:00Because Revant Reddy very clearly has said he has no money.
28:03You made promises which you can't deliver yourself.
28:07See, Preeti, there is a difference between Revant Reddy and the situation in Maharashtra of Mahayuti government.
28:12Revant Reddy has committed that there is going to be a serious situation.
28:16He has not started, you know, deleting the names of some women under the guise of some criteria.
28:25See, basically, pre-election and post-elections in Maharashtra, they have, you know, exposed the malafied intentions of the Mahayuti government.
28:35It is also the betrayal of public trust.
28:38It can also be said that it is exposing the opportunistic or the deceptive nature of the Mahayuti government.
28:47Pre-election, all the Mahayuti leaders, including Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Nadda, Ajit Pawar, Devendra Farnubis, Eknath Chinde,
28:56everybody, nobody spoke about the fine print which we are talking today.
28:59Everybody, in fact, when the reporters or the people also asked them, they said that anybody who is getting benefit under any other scheme will also get benefit of this scheme.
29:09This is what Eknath Chinde has said on various stages, various platforms.
29:13And today, they are going back on it.
29:16This is purely a hollow political gimmick.
29:20This is an election fraud under the guise of which BJP has taken the votes of poor women.
29:27And post-election, under the guise of, you know, some criteria, they want to withdraw their names.
29:34They want to reduce the scheme.
29:36This is a blatant, I would like to say, breach of commitment.
29:39And breach of commitment by Bharatiya Janta Party, the ladies of Maharashtra are not going to spare them.
29:45And I am wondering, there are two ladies on the panel.
29:47They are trying to defend the government.
29:49In fact, they should stand with the females who are deprived, the 8 lakh females.
29:53And these are not only 8 lakhs, there are even more.
29:558 lakhs have come to you under your record.
29:58There are more females whose names have been deleted.
30:01Maharashtra females are not going to bear with this.
30:06All right.
30:06Okay.
30:06You know, Charan Singh, you say, Revan's ready is different.
30:09But not quite different.
30:10There are delays in delivering on your welfare promises, not just in the state of Telangana.
30:14I'd also remind you that there is a possibility that the Himachal house is going to undergo an auction, sir.
30:22Because Himachal Pradesh doesn't have the money to pay for its own welfare promises.
30:26You might call it welfare.
30:27Ultimately, everyone knows it's populism.
30:30Whichever side of the divide you stand on.
30:31So not much difference.
30:32Neither Himachal nor Telangana have reduced the names of females.
30:35You know, potato, potato, anything that you might seem to suggest.
30:41But it comes down to the same thing.
30:43But I want to bring in Susi Bensha.
30:44Susi Bensha, the fact is, with what Charan Singh Sapra says, there's one truth in that.
30:49Eknath Srinath, the then chief minister, and I, you know, attended two rallies myself.
30:54My Maharashtrian is not, you know, very, very good.
30:57But at least with what I gathered from that, he said very clearly that I will increase it to 2100.
31:03Sabko milega.
31:04I'm your brother and you are my sister.
31:06You will get that money.
31:071500 now.
31:08And why I give the figure of 8 lakhs is, why I give that figure is because we've done an internal research and we gathered the number, which some might suggest might be more.
31:18But we know there is at least 8 lakh women who will be getting 500.
31:21A, why are we not being able to admit that, yes, you constituted a panel for fiscal prudence.
31:26You decided you needed to make some amends and corrections.
31:29And you have done so.
31:30Very good evening to all and warm, warm regards to all my fellow panelists and Preeti, it's always a pleasure to be on your show.
31:39Now, I'll tell you this.
31:40Let us understand very clearly that not a single word of the light ki behen GR has changed.
31:47It remains, the GR remains as it is.
31:50It is nothing is malafide, Sapra Saab.
31:52Everything is bona fide.
31:54What this current government or the government opposition party, whatever it remains of, is harping on half-truths and misinformation.
32:03In the GR, it was always stated, Preeti, I'm glad that you mentioned that your Maharajan is not so good.
32:09Our CM, sir, and now our BCM, sir, continues to be the most popular Maratha chief minister.
32:14He still is the larka bhav of all the dear sister, a dear brother to all dear sisters.
32:20Why?
32:20Because we have delivered and we continue to deliver.
32:2457,000 crores is a budgeted allocation.
32:28It is not a hearsay.
32:30There is a concrete proof that this government is going to deliver.
32:34The other thing that I want to say is that it is not a promise.
32:40It is not just a mere promise.
32:41It is a commitment.
32:42Till now, after the new Mahayuti government has come, the regular stipend has been going to these women.
32:50It is not Ravadi, please stand corrected, all of you.
32:54It is a dignity given to the women.
32:56It is a sanman nidi.
32:57It is a kind of a give back to them for the work that they do, giving them dignity in the family, in the society and in the larger context, the family at large.
33:10So, therefore, understand this, this Maharashtra government, under the dynamic leadership of Eknath Raoji Shinde, our honourable chief minister, they call him Deva Bhav now.
33:21And also, Ajit Dada, we stand committed to Ladki Mahend.
33:25We stand committed to women's empowerment and there is nothing that can ever change that.
33:31This debate is based on misinformation and rumours.
33:34Okay, ma'am, I'm going to come right back to you on this.
33:36But it's interesting because I don't think your own ally, spokesperson will concur where you say Eknath Shinde was the most popular chief minister of Maharashtra.
33:45But that's another debate.
33:46That's another debate.
33:47That's another debate.
33:48I don't want to get into it.
33:49It was just a side note.
33:50But it was just a side...
33:51There is a difference.
33:52I said Maratha chief minister.
33:53Oh, the fine print in that also, madam.
33:57The fine print in that as well.
33:59You want to understand the fine print.
34:01I'm saying the fine print in that as well.
34:03Okay, no, I'll come back.
34:05I'll circle back to you.
34:05So, Susi Ben Shahan, I will circle back to you on this and I will ask you that question.
34:09Why is it that the fine print wasn't read when about 8 lakh women were being handed over 1500 rupees with the promise of 2100 rupees and now they're going to be pruned to 500?
34:18Because clearly there was an oversight there.
34:20So, if the fine print was there, then there was an oversight.
34:22And I'll come back to you on that.
34:23I want to bring in the NCB Sharad Pawaar faction, Anish Gawande in this as well.
34:29Anish Gawande, why is it so difficult to admit that you can't deliver on these...
34:32You know, she says that, you know, Susi Ben Shahan, because it's a political statement to make, don't call it revdy because it's welfarism.
34:39You know, somewhere down the line, that line gets blurred very quickly.
34:41And it cuts across party lines.
34:45Preeti, thank you so much for having me on the show and I'm glad to be here.
34:48I want to start off by saying that it's very clear today that the Maharashtra government is a PR stunt.
34:53First, they used to rename things.
34:55Now, they engage in accounting jugglery to justify all of these things.
34:59As you rightly pointed out, if these women were given 1,500 rupees to begin with, then why were they given those 1,500 rupees?
35:07Does the scrutiny for a scheme begin after money has been handed out?
35:11Then does this not mean that the government is admitting that one of the largest scams has taken place in Maharashtra today,
35:16where thousands of women who are not eligible for this scheme have availed these benefits at the cost of the exchequer?
35:21So what is being admitted on television today?
35:23And what is the level that we've dropped to?
35:25The BJP's manifesto at one point used to be a holy grail that the party followed.
35:30Karke Dikhayenge was their motto for their manifesto.
35:32Today, not only are they going away from their manifesto promise of 2,100 rupees,
35:37but they're bringing it down to 1,500 and bringing it down even further to 500 for certain women.
35:42Scrutiny happens before a scheme is dispersed, not after.
35:46This is not governance.
35:47This is a circus.
35:48Now, more importantly, you ask the question as to why these schemes are necessary.
35:53Priti, today the situation is such that economic inequality has reached levels worse than the British Raj.
35:58This government is an utter and complete failure on the financial front.
36:03Household debt is 41% of the GDP.
36:0645% of those loans are subgrime.
36:09Today, savings have hit a 50-year low.
36:12Indian middle class and lower middle class households are borrowing money to meet consumption expenses.
36:19The reason these schemes are popular is not because somebody wants to go around like Santa Claus
36:23handing over money to people before elections, but because people need this money.
36:28And instead of debating the vaqf and instead of debating one nation, one election,
36:32like Revant Reddy said, this government needs to acknowledge that there's a crisis
36:35and sit together to work on it.
36:37This government is only interested in distractions.
36:40They don't want to discuss the economy because they're failing on the economy
36:43and it's going to benefit only them for a short time.
36:46Your time is up, Anish Gabbani.
36:48You know, what Revant Reddy said very clearly was that we don't have the money
36:51and we all need to come together and say that we don't have the money to actually fund these schemes.
36:58That's what he said.
36:59He didn't say that we need to have them and then, you know, we need to find the money for them or any of that.
37:05Just cannot.
37:05Fiscally, it's just not prudent in this country to float cash, direct cash transfers.
37:10But, Sanju Verma, I want to come back to you and I want to circle back to you.
37:14You can address the questions.
37:15You can, you know, take me on if you wish to.
37:18Or you can also answer the question that I ask you, which is, along with Maharashtra,
37:23there was another state that announced a cash transfer.
37:26And that was the state of Jharkhand.
37:28That 1,000 rupees is being delivered as it is, Sanju Verma.
37:31While there's quite a bit of news coming in on the Ladki Bahini, Ojana.
37:34You know, Preeti, first and foremost, let me make one thing very clear.
37:39The fine print always said there cannot be duplication in terms of cash transfers to beneficiaries.
37:45Point number one.
37:46Point number two, if 8 lakh women are being only going to, you know, be given 500 rupees henceforth
37:56and not 1,500 rupees.
37:588 lakh women ke upar ittni charcha hoi hai hai,
38:01but 2.5 crore women who have got benefits, unke baare me charcha nahi hoi.
38:07Maan lijeye, oversight tha.
38:098 lakh women out of 2.5 crore means only 3.2%.
38:143.2% women are being cut out.
38:17That is not oversight.
38:19That is, when a scheme evolves, the scrutiny levels get tighter.
38:23Government schemes always coming for constant evaluation.
38:26And that is exactly what has happened.
38:28If Preeti Chaudhary does not want to focus on 2.5 crore women beneficiaries,
38:33but if Preeti Chaudhary wants to focus on 8 lakh women who are not going to get benefits of
38:39maaji larki bahini yojana,
38:41or I will say Preeti Chaudhary needs to get a sense of proportion.
38:45But Preeti is a dear friend.
38:46Are we not focused on what?
38:48The NCP spokesperson said Preeti.
38:50Economy is going down the drain.
38:52No, International Monetary Fund has lauded Prime Minister Modi and said,
38:57we will be overtaking Japan in a few months, not in a few years,
39:01to become the world's fourth largest economy at more than 4.4 trillion dollars.
39:06Haan, let me tell the NCP spokesperson,
39:08aaf ke Sharad Pava ki dhajiya aur de.
39:112023, Sharad Pava's NCP faction lost its national party status.
39:16And let me tell the NCP spokesperson,
39:18250 million, as in 25 crore people,
39:22have been lifted out of poverty by Prime Minister Modi.
39:24Yeh Sanju parma nahi bolti, yeh world rank me bula hai.
39:28India today has the world's fourth largest forex reserve,
39:31the world's eighth largest gold reserve,
39:33and do you know something, Preeti?
39:34Our per capita household wealth is 20,000 dollars.
39:39Okay.
39:40Ma'am, your time is up.
39:41Your time is up.
39:42You know, as much as I think it's max of narcissism
39:45to speak of yourself in the third person,
39:47but Preeti Chaudhary is very happy that you admit
39:49eight lakh women are not getting that fifteen hundred rupees anymore.
39:53I am very glad you admit that.
39:55I said, assuming what you are saying is true, Preeti,
39:56don't miss your history in your US.
39:57I said, assuming what you are saying is true, Preeti, don't miss your history in your US.
39:59You can't give a backhanded compliment,
40:01even if it is backhanded, and then take it away.
40:04That's a twist my fill.
40:04I said, assuming.
40:06Okay, assuming.
40:07Okay, assuming.
40:08Okay, assuming it is right.
40:10At least Preeti Chaudhary is very glad you admit that.
40:12Can you please applaud the government for 2,500?
40:14Ma'am, be well, be well.
40:15Okay.
40:16I want to, ma'am, it is already uploaded the number of shows we did on that.
40:19How can you forget?
40:20You were a part of 50% of them.
40:21I want to bring in Charan Singh Sapra.
40:24Please, ma'am.
40:24Ma'am, the feeder is out.
40:25Charan Singh Sapra, I want to bring you back into this conversation
40:28because, you know, there seems to be us against them.
40:31But, you know, you're all in the same boat.
40:34And I gave you two examples.
40:35Himachal Pradesh, Telangana.
40:39See, Preeti, again I am saying that Himachal Pradesh and Telangana,
40:43there are not such cases in which the women have been withdrawn from the beneficiary scheme.
40:48It's not that way.
40:49Yes, the chief minister has raised apprehension that there is a difficulty to raise the funds for it.
40:55That is true.
40:56And that is there with everybody.
40:58I am happy that the BJP spokesperson on the show is talking about constant evaluation
41:04and the fine print again and again they are repeating.
41:07But the same thing I would like to say again that the then chief minister,
41:11Mr. Eknath Shinde or Fadnavis Ajit Par,
41:13they have never spoken about the fine print or the fine print is going to come afterwards.
41:16They have not spoken about all this.
41:18So, now they are talking about governance.
41:21But, Preeti, this is not about mere governance.
41:24This is misuse of power signaling that political gains are more important for the BJP
41:30than the welfare of the women.
41:32I remember pre-election, how the leaders used to say as if this is a very big reform
41:37and, you know, to empower the women of the...
41:40But actually, they have cheated the women of Maharashtra.
41:43I would like to put it that way.
41:45And let me tell you, not only this scheme, there are various other schemes.
41:49The Ladki Behan scheme, the Ladka Bhau she was talking about or she was talking about Deva Bhau.
41:56Where is the Ladka Bhau scheme which Eknath Shinde got it
42:00and in which the youngster was supposed to get money?
42:05That scheme is nearly closed.
42:07There are many such schemes under the Maharashtra government which were announced during the election.
42:12They were just political jumlahs, election jumlahs.
42:15And in the days to come, BJP and all the other Mahayuti leaders are going to say
42:20that this was a jumlah like Amit Shah said a few years ago for 15 lakh rupees in each account.
42:26So, BJP and the Mahayuti government, they are the liars.
42:30They are being exposed and they are being exposed on their own.
42:34I am asking, where is the Ladka Bhau scheme?
42:38Nobody is talking about the Ladka Bhau.
42:41Sushi Bench, your time begins now.
42:43Okay, sir, your time is up.
42:44Sushi Bench, your time begins now.
42:46You know, the question I ask you is, maybe one should promise as much as one can deliver.
42:50I asked that question to Sanju Verma.
42:52She didn't address it.
42:53But along with Maharashtra, there was another state that promised a direct cash transfer
42:56and that was Jharkar.
42:57And it seems that Himansurain is delivering that 1,000 rupees.
43:01He understood 1,000 was a safe option to offer and he is delivering on it.
43:06Priti, we are also delivering.
43:098 lakh women have not been removed.
43:11Only the differential amount, only the differential amount has been reduced.
43:17So, they are not out of the Ladki Bhau scheme.
43:19They will continue to benefit under the Ladki Bhau scheme.
43:22There is a budget allocation.
43:24There is going to be shortly increase to 2,100.
43:27And don't you worry.
43:29None of them, none of them are removed.
43:31And let me also tell you this in the GR.
43:34I mean, I am rather surprised that our very good old Saparaji has been in governance, in politics for such a long time.
43:41It is, whether it be NDA, whether it be Aghadi, whether it be UPA, whether it be Mahayuti.
43:47It is always that in a particular scheme, if you are getting benefits, you are not eligible under any other scheme.
43:53Like in this particular GR, not a word has changed.
43:57If you are eligible under Srabanbal Yojana, if you are eligible under Sanjay Gandhi, Niradar Yojana, you cannot, you cannot claim any other benefit.
44:07It is well known.
44:08I am surprised that these people, whether it be, whether it be my NCP spokesperson, I mean, he is giving out statements without having any proof whatsoever.
44:17Whatsoever, be as it may, not a single, Saparaji, it was your Vilasrao Deshmukh ji, he who said that I cannot deliver my promises because it was a misprint in the manifesto.
44:34Yaad diladu, aap Kishan ko, now Preeti, this is a very important point that Saparaji should be put to test to.
44:40That when Vilasrao Deshmukh came as a chief minister, it was a promise by the earlier Sushil Kumar Shindeji government that the, the, there will be, there will be, there will be, the, the farmers will not be able to, will not be able, they would not have to pay the debt.
44:57It was removed.
44:58But when it came, when Vilasrao Deshmukh ji came to power, no farmers were given that benefit.
45:05He said it was a misprint in the manifesto.
45:08Ma'am, your time's up, ma'am your time's up, I want to go to the NCP spokesperson, give him two minutes, but I'm glad that at least you also admit that there is, whether, you know, they might not have been removed, but it has been scaled out.
45:22But, ma'am I'm not talking about you, I'm talking about Sushi Benjah.
45:25Okay, okay, I'm running out of time.
45:27Two minutes.
45:29Ma'am, you also said that probability, if it is true.
45:35Okay, Ma'am, I concede, okay, you are saying if it is, if it is true.
45:42Okay, I want to give two minutes to the NCP spokesperson to put his point forward, because we are running out of time.
45:47Go ahead, sir.
45:48I don't want to come in for the comeback.
45:49Go ahead.
45:50Titi, to put it, put it very simply, yeh sirv jumla nahi, garib mahilaon par kamal ka hamla hai.
45:57The reality is that the audacity of a government to claim that they can mislead the people of this country before an election and conduct a scrutiny after an election is shameful.
46:10There used to be a time when we said that manifesto promises should be binding contracts between political parties and citizens.
46:16I remember the time when we used to hold political parties accountable for their manifestos, and at least there used to be some semblance of an exposure of hypocrisy.
46:24Today, what we are witnessing is just a blatant denial of the promises that were made and no sense of shame at having made these promises.
46:33Women have tried to get this money and not gotten it.
46:37Women are now being told that this money is not going to be dispersed into their bank accounts.
46:41People have financially planned the following months based on this money, and you take it away like this.
46:46Is there no shame left?
46:48And worse, at a time when the economy is not doing well, at a time when we know that the global economic forces are against us,
46:55to pretend like the economy is hunky-dory is absolutely delusional.
47:01We know that our growth forecast has been cut to around 6%.
47:03We know that our sort of fiscal deficit targets are not being met.
47:07The last I recollect, the fiscal deficit-to-GDP ratio was 57.1%, far in excess of 40% that was put under the FRBM Act by none other than Atal Bihari Vajpayeeji.
47:17The last I remember, we do have market volatility crises that are facing this country, and a forex reserve outflow that is a cause for concern.
47:25To deny that this is even a concern, to say that everything is going well, is shameful.
47:31Are we just going to get to a point where we completely ignore that there is a crisis at hand, and pretend like everything is okay?
47:37All right. Well, you know, this would have been, because I'm running out of time, I'm going to cut you short, take that 10 seconds away from you.
47:44Apologies there.
47:45But, you know, the fact is, this would be pearls of wisdom, you know, for both the opposition leaders here.
47:50Because if, ma'am, please, ma'am, please, this would be pearls of wisdom, that if the opposition parties also practice what they preach,
47:59I just want to also remind the Mahavikasa Gandhi, the promises they made, because Mr. Gawande and Charan Singh Sapra,
48:07if you remember, you made promises that you would, this was 1500, you promised over 2000 rupees,
48:14how were you going to deliver it with the kind of debt that Maharaj tries in?
48:18They are going to leave it at that, because, ma'am, I don't have the time, I need to close,
48:21because then I'll have to give everyone.
48:23Please, I apologize, apologize.
48:25Okay, and Sanju Verma, if you're angry, you did not agree with me.
48:29If you want me to say that, I'll say it on national television.
48:31You did not agree with me.
48:32With that, we're going to leave it at that.
48:34Thank you for joining us.