00:00So the Latke Bahind scheme and schemes like that now coming under the scanner.
00:05Is it time to stop election year cash handouts?
00:09These poll freebies, are they acts of bribing voters?
00:13Joining me now on my face-off, Shaina NC, National Spokesperson of the Shiv Sena,
00:17and Clyde Trasto, National Spokesperson Secretary, NCP Sharath Pahar.
00:21To you, Shaina NC, when I look at what the CAG report says,
00:26it effectively flags out excess expenditure, parking of thousands of crores in fake deposit accounts,
00:35and deficiencies in the financial management of this scheme that was touted as a flagship scheme that won you an
00:42election.
00:42Now you've reduced the beneficiaries by 38%.
00:47Effectively, you will be accused of having put in a scheme without due diligence,
00:52simply because you wanted to win an election in 2024, and taxpayers' money was wrongly misused.
01:01Rajneet, first and foremost, greetings from Pandarpur and the Wari.
01:07You know, walking through this Wari itself, you see so many Latke Behens.
01:12And what do they say? They all cite that Mukhe Mantri Maji Ladki Bahin Yojana has been a game-changer,
01:20where they have got 1500 rupees, and for those who are eligible, between the age group of 21 to 65.
01:28Now you're right.
01:28But you gave ineligible women, 92 lakhs out of 2.4 crore women were ineligible.
01:34I mean, what kind of a scheme is that?
01:36It was clearly done without due diligence, only because at the time you wanted to win an election.
01:41You wasted more than 14,000 crores of taxpayers' money on it.
01:48Look, if there are duplicate entries, if there are ineligible age, like as I told you, the cutoff is 21
01:55to 65.
01:56So if somebody is not eligible, if the income is above 2.5 lakhs per year,
02:02if they have a four-wheeler owner, or if they are government employees also,
02:08and there were pensioners too, the Aadhaar Bank mismatch,
02:12and the women who were already getting the benefits,
02:15and if they were getting benefits from other state schemes,
02:19why shouldn't there be a clean-up? I want to ask.
02:21No, no, there should be a...
02:23Why was the clean-up not done before the election?
02:25That's the point. You have every right to do a clean-up.
02:27No one objects to that.
02:28But what it shows is, before the election, you just took the money out of the exchequer,
02:35paid it to women.
02:35Now, when you're facing a financial crisis in terms of revenues, a huge revenue deficit,
02:42suddenly you've realized we should exercise due diligence.
02:44My only point is, you could have done it in July of 2024,
02:47then you wanted to win an election at all costs.
02:50Can I just answer, please, if you allow me?
02:53The scheme was launched and scaled very fast because there was an Aadhaar bank sending system,
03:04cross-verification system, and databases that were done on first-come-first basis.
03:10Now, if there were some eligible women who were dropped because of technical errors,
03:16and now in this re-verification, a lot of them have also been given opportunity.
03:20But when you have a clean-up, it is not just to save public money,
03:25it is to ensure that only genuine beneficiaries continue.
03:28And their savings have been used from time to time.
03:32So you're right, from 2.3 to 2.4 crore women,
03:37if you have 1.3 to 1.4 who are getting 1,500,
03:41they are getting it exclusively in the Ladki Bahen scheme and not being facilitated to schemes
03:49where there are Labhartis for two different schemes.
03:52So I think you need to understand that if there is a system in place,
03:56and if there is the KYCs as well, as well as the age limit,
04:01as well as the criteria of the funds that the person...
04:05All of this should have been...
04:06Madam, my only point is, all of this could have been put in place when the scheme started.
04:10At that time, there was a hurry because you brought it in July,
04:13there was an election in October.
04:14That's the only question I have.
04:16But Clyde Crasto, you want to respond,
04:18what's wrong if the government decides clean-up?
04:20At the end of the day, better late than never.
04:23Government will say, we are doing a clean-up,
04:25we are removing those who are not beneficiaries.
04:28We've removed the ineligible beneficiaries.
04:34Rajdeep, this is a very carefully scheme that turned into a scam.
04:38Just before the elections, they knew.
04:40They knew they were these women of Maharashtra to get their votes.
04:45So just before elections, they started giving out this money,
04:48knowing well enough that the model code of conduct is going to come into place,
04:52and then they can't do anything, and they'll use this as quiz later.
04:54So first two months, they gave out this money.
04:56As soon as they got all their votes, they started betraying the women of Maharashtra.
05:00This is a carefully thought, well-planned thing.
05:03Now, slowly and steadily, they are deducting all the names,
05:05removing all the names from that.
05:07But like you kept saying, and like we all are saying it,
05:10this should have been done before the EKYC.
05:12I mean, 29,000 men have been given this money from this scheme.
05:16Can you imagine 29,000 men are getting money for 10 months?
05:1914,000 crores of the exchequer has gone waste.
05:22And now you are trying to act as if like, you know,
05:25oh, we are doing a clean-up job and everything.
05:27You planned everything.
05:28The clean-up was planned so that you get your votes.
05:31Once you get your votes, then you start cleaning up these women.
05:34You are betraying the women of Maharashtra.
05:36I mean, you are talking about, you know, everything from, you know,
05:39cleaning up the system by government employees,
05:42then people who are not eligible.
05:44But what happened before that?
05:45You very well knew that all these people are not eligible.
05:49Mr. Krashto, do you support the clean-up or not?
05:51Mr. Krashto, do you support the clean-up or not?
05:54Absolutely.
05:55No, no, no, no.
05:56Clean-up, support means what is the point doing it now?
05:58Yes, you do it.
05:59But are you fooling the people of Maharashtra or not?
06:02Did you fool the people of Maharashtra or not?
06:04Did you betray the women of Maharashtra or not?
06:06Accept it.
06:06Apologize to the women of Maharashtra.
06:08You have fooled them.
06:09But your party also before the election said,
06:15we'll also give 3,000.
06:17The moment you saw them giving 1,500,
06:19you all promised 3,000.
06:20You said this is the competitive.
06:22Populism must stop.
06:23We would have...
06:24No, see, Rajneem, we would have done...
06:27Let me finish.
06:28No, no, no.
06:28Let him complete.
06:29Let him complete, ma'am.
06:31Please finish.
06:31Please finish, client.
06:33Please finish.
06:34We would have done due diligence.
06:36We would have gone through everything
06:37and done what we wanted to do.
06:38One more point I want to make here.
06:401,500 rupees you promised you were giving.
06:42You started that.
06:43Then there were local body elections.
06:45You said we will now give 2,100.
06:47After the election is over,
06:48where is the 2,100?
06:49This is all carefully planned,
06:52you know, fooling the people of Maharashtra,
06:54women of Maharashtra taking their votes.
06:55Nothing else.
06:56This government has only been fooling
06:57the people of Maharashtra.
06:59You have gone to the Wari.
07:00You met women who got the money.
07:01You met women who got money.
07:03What about those 92 lakh women
07:05who are not going to get the money?
07:06Meet them also.
07:07Go and ask them.
07:08I want to give a final word to you, Shaina,
07:13because there will be those
07:14who will say this was a bribe.
07:16This was effectively a bribe
07:18before the election
07:19because you were desperate
07:20to win that election at all costs
07:22because you had a setback
07:23in the Lok Sabha.
07:24You needed to win the assembly election.
07:25And as a result,
07:27without due diligence,
07:28you went ahead with a scheme.
07:30This has been flagged by the CAG.
07:32The same CAG
07:33which you used to use
07:34to target previous governments
07:35has today questioned your government.
07:39Rajseep,
07:40my leader,
07:41Eknarji Shinde,
07:42has always championed
07:43the cause of Latki Behens.
07:45He has given us dignity.
07:47And as I said,
07:48even as I speak
07:49on this Wari
07:50from Pandharpur in Faltan,
07:52there were so many women
07:54from Amravati,
07:54from Akola,
07:56from Jalna,
07:57and they were,
07:57everyone who is eligible
08:03has got it.
08:04But if there are duplicate entries,
08:07if people are ineligible in age,
08:09if they have an income
08:11above 2.5 lakhs a year,
08:13or if they have four-wheelers,
08:15or if they are government employees,
08:16Why did you not think
08:17about this before?
08:18Because it takes due process.
08:21If you have a paper,
08:22So the due process,
08:22you answered your question,
08:24it takes a due process,
08:25but you did not follow
08:27a due process.
08:28That's the problem.
08:29There were four months left.
08:30No, madam.
08:31No, madam.
08:32No due process.
08:33Okay, I'm going to leave it there.
08:34No due process.
08:35I think,
08:36I'm glad that you're not
08:38cleaning up the role.
08:39Let's be clear.
08:40Okay, let me leave it there.
08:42There's cross-talk now.
08:43Clyde Crestone,
08:44Shaina NCI,
08:45I appreciate you joining us.
08:46The Latki Bahit scheme
08:47under the scanner.
08:48Should cash handouts
08:50in election year be stopped?
08:52Shiva says,
08:53Prime Minister coined
08:53the term Ravni culture,
08:55and now the BJP
08:56has also become
08:57the champion of handing out
08:58freebies before elections.
09:00All these promises
09:01of freebies
09:02by all political parties
09:03before elections
09:04must be stopped completely.
09:06Easier said than done.
09:08Apoorva Vora says,
09:09Yes,
09:09if the party in power
09:10wants to dole out freebies,
09:12it should be out of
09:13their own party funds.
09:14Good point.
09:15Wasting taxpayer money
09:16is a crime.
09:17Parag Hede says,
09:18In Goa,
09:19it was stopped
09:19due to discrepancy.
09:21It has started once again
09:22as elections
09:22are round the corner.
09:24Another user on Twitter
09:25says,
09:26Freebies like these
09:27are useless.
09:27Instead of handouts
09:28before elections,
09:30focus on real empowerment.
09:31What's my take on this?
09:33When elections
09:33had to be won
09:34in Maharashtra
09:35in 2024,
09:37due diligence
09:38was conveniently missing.
09:40Now that polls
09:41are over
09:41and state finances
09:42are under strain,
09:43the beneficiary list
09:45has been slashed.
09:46The real question
09:47though is this,
09:4814,000 crores
09:49was wrongly handed out
09:50is taxpayers' money,
09:51including some
09:52that went to men.
09:53Would that money
09:54have been far better spent
09:56on educating
09:57lacks of young girls
09:58and creating
09:59lasting opportunities
10:01rather than being used
10:02as an election time freebie
10:04to secure votes?
10:06Empowerment,
10:07my friends,
10:07comes through education
10:08and opportunity
10:09not through cash handouts
10:12every election year.
10:14Think about it.
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