CM Kejriwal brought major shift in politics of India by his exemplary work in 8 yrs: Min

New Delhi: While speaking at Cambridge India Conference, Delhi’s Education minister Atishi said that politics in India has changed for the first time due to her party’s approach and promise of quality education and health.

Atishi was speaking on the topic “Education - Building India’s Future at 100” hosted by Cambridge Judge Business School on June 15 and shared success stories of the Education Model in Delhi.

CM Arvind Kejriwal has brought this major shift in India’s politics with his exemplary work over the past 8 years, she said. As a testimony to the impact of the Delhi governance model, even the PM had to attend school, though a fake one in a porta cabin, before the Gujarat elections to launch an education scheme.

She further said that one of the major accomplishments of her party was pushing the Prime Minister, Home Minister, and the Gujarat Chief Minister to visit schools and have their pictures taken there.

“Although the school the Prime Minister visited was a fake one housed in a portable cabin, he still had to go there, sit among the children in the classroom, and launch an education scheme. If political parties across the nation have started recognising education and health as crucial focal points for election campaigns, then this stands as our greatest achievement,” Atishi said. India has two government models — one of AAP that empowers every person with basic amenities and the other that centralises power in the hands of one individual, she added.

Despite the narrative of the country’s growing economy, India still carries the tag of a “developing country,” which it did 25 years ago too. She pointed out that although we are often told that India’s GDP has crossed the $3.5 trillion mark and it is the fastest-growing G20 economy, the reality is more worrying and requires immediate attention. One key indicator of the country’s situation is the Human Development Index, where India ranks 132 out of 191 countries. Several smaller countries or countries considered comparable to India, such as Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, have higher ranks in this index.

It is often highlighted that India has the largest number of growing billionaires, with the number increasing from 102 in 2020 to 166 in 2022. However, another figure during this period is the number of hungry people in the country, which grew from 19 crores to 35 crores. “This is alarming considering that India is the second-largest producer of food in the world. Despite this, it has the largest number of malnourished or undernourished people,” she added.