User:Praveen u menon/Shweta Shalini

Shweta Shalini (born 8 September 1980) is an Indian politician from the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state of Maharashtra. She worked closely with former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis as an advisor, election strategist and technology consultant.

She was appointed General Secretary of the Ayodhya Samanvaya Samiti which was formed at the behest of petitioners of Ram Janmabhoomi movement to construct Ram Mandir. This Samiti having representations from Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Vishva Hindu Parishad, Nirmohi Akhara, Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas and Shiv Sena was formed to work towards bringing together all petitioners and removing obstacles to the construction of Ram Mandir.

She is an entrepreneur and founder of Fortune Cookie Ux Design before getting into Indian politics. Her Corporate venture with two more IT companies turned her serial entrepreneur and also Entrepreneur of the Year in 2011.

She has played a role in the elections for the BJP across Maharashtra by being the war room in charge.

Apart from her political role, She is Executive Director of Maharashtra Village Social Transformation Foundation (VSTF) which aims at transforming the 1000 backward villages in Maharashtra. The Foundation which is an initiative of Government of Maharashtra and chaired by Chief Minister of Maharashtra has corporate tycoons like Ratan Tata, Mukesh Ambani and Anand Mahindra as part of the governing council.

She has appeared in several news debates in English, Hindi and Marathi channels to put forth the party point of view.

Early life
Shweta Shalini was born on 8 September 1980 and hails from small village called Binda in Muzaffarpur in Bihar. Her father was deeply influenced by the JP movement (Bihar Movement) against misrule and corruption in Bihar which eventually turned against Indira Gandhi's Government at the Centre. Her father dropped his surname and named his kids accordingly to not require a surname. She has one sibling, a younger brother. Being an army officer's daughter, she went to Army Public School and has studied in nine different schools in five different states across India. She completed her B.E (Mechanical) from Army Institute of Technology, Pune. Thereafter she completed her MBA from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management and married in a village in the banks of river Sarayu in Ayodhya. Her husband Ankush Tiwari is co-founder and CTO at Mobiliya. They have twin boys named Ansh and Laksh and it is their family trust at Ayodhya which does the Sarayu Aarti on the banks of river Sarayu. She stays in Pune, Maharashtra with her family.

She started her career in sales and marketing and was the first women employee at Atlas Copco, India before starting up her own venture Fortune Cookie Ux Design. She was awarded the Entrepreneur of the Year in 2011.

Political Career
She has been the war room in-charge for various elections across Maharashtra right from parliament to panchayat elections including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections in Mumbai which is the biggest municipal corporation in Asia whose budget exceeds that of many Indian states.

Shweta Shalini is credited with inventing and implementing Mukhyamantri Mitra initiative by Maharashtra BJP. Mukhyamantri Mitra is a citizen volunteer who would carry out 'social audit' of the functioning of government departments and welfare schemes. These volunteers would include retired government servants, police officials, teachers, CAs, doctors and those with a social service background . She was appointed BJP Spokesperson.

She is special executive director at the Maharashtra Village Social Transformation Foundation tasked with Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis initiative to transform 1000 villages into model villages. She played in instrumental role in the launch of the "Uttar Bhartiya Yuva Parivartan Manch" (UBYPM) aimed at working for the welfare and progress of North Indians in Maharashtra.

Woman Empowerment
She launched the Billennium Divas Angel Fund for women entrepreneurs and start-ups quoting impact alpha special report that India's 650 million women are the key to meet all global goals for 2030 especially sustainable development goal by achieving gender equality. The fund is the second in the country dedicated entirely to woman-entrepreneurs and woman-led startups where Shweta Shalini as chief evangelist mentors the start-ups.

Rural Transformation through VSTF
Shweta Shalini is Executive Director of Village Social Transformation Foundation (VSTF), a Section 8 company formed by the Government of Maharashtra. She was appointed as Director on January 2018 after which she has steered the initiatives of the foundation in training the Chief minister Rural Development Fellows (CMRDF), transforming the villages and monitoring the changes on the ground by personally visiting villages. The foundation chaired by the Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis himself is tasked with transforming the 1000 backward villages in Maharashtra into model Villages. The Foundation which is an initiative of Government of Maharashtra and chaired by Chief Minister of Maharashtra has corporate tycoons like Ratan Tata, Mukesh Ambani and Anand Mahindra as part of the governing council.

Speaking at an event of VSTF on the Republic day address on 26 January 2019 at Y.B Chavan Hall, the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expressed satisfaction that the foundation together with its fellows have been able to start the process of transformation with the help of villagers. The progress and development work of all 1000 villages have been initiated by them already. He also expressed hope that villages adjoining the transformed 1000 villages will also take a cue and join in the social transformation process. He also proudly stated that it is due to the success of VSTF that other states are looking forward to adopt this model.

On 5 December 2018 VSTF under the leadership of Devendra Fadnavis signed MOU's with 49 companies widening the scope of rural Transformation with the world-bank funded State of Maharashtra's Agribusiness and Rural Transformation (SMART) initiative. The VSTF through its partners contributed 70 crore to the project while 1500 crore is funded by world bank with the remaining 430 crore coming from the Government of Maharashtra. The VSTF has signed MoUs with 22 corporates and start-ups to focus on increasing farm productivity and higher price realisations for farmers by ensuring direct tie-up with end buyers.

The Chief minister while launching the same remarked that "This initiative will be an ideal conduit between a chain of empowered farmers in the form of producer companies, self-help groups with direct access to the large retailers, and will lead to transformation in agriculture. This will not only ensure that agriculture is profitable, but also sustainable over the next 6 years across 10,000 villages with 3 lakh people being skilled for this emerging agri-business". The NDTV Dettol Banega Swacch India episode aired on 17 November 2018 featured her work.

Chhath Puja
Shweta Shalini has played key leadership role in the Chhath festival conducted at the banks of river in the island city of Mumbai and across other parts of Maharashtra. She works closely with Chhath Utsav Mahasangh which has been conducting Chhath in Mumbai for more than two decades. A crowd of millions primarily from Purvanchal region of UP converge at Juhu, Mumbai to pay obeisance to Chhathi Maiya in a Hindu festival going back to Vedic period. Chhath Puja is observed mainly in the Purvanchal region by natives of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. Fasting women make offerings to the setting and rising sun along riverfronts to seek the "suns god" blessings for their children and husbands. The offerings include sugarcane, kheer, puri, thekua, rice, laddo and fruits, mainly sweet lime and banana in bamboo winnows.

Uttar Bhartiya Yuva Parivartan Manch
Shweta Shalini helped form the "Uttar Bhartiya Yuva Parivartan Manch". The manch was inaugurated by the Chief minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis on 13 November 2018, on Chhath Puja at Juhu, Mumbai.

Cultural Promotion
This UBYPM Manch with Shweta Shalini as one of the prominent core members will organize inter-cultural exchange programs between North India and Maharashtra. It will promote Uttar Bhartiya culture in Maharashtra by organizing Ayodhya yatra and trips to other such important cultural centres like Bodh Gaya in North India and also promote Marathi culture in North India by organizing trips to important cultural centres of Maharashtra like the forts of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaja, Deekshabhoomi and Shirdi yatra.

On 19 February 2019, UBYPM under leadership of Shweta Shalini took 100 people from Maharashtra to Prayagraj on a Kumbh Shahi Snan trip on the occasion of Magh Purnima.

Skill Development
The UBYPM established with Shweta Shalini as one of the core members will promote skill development of the community with an aim to provide employment and promote livelihood development and eradicate mass unemployment. The manch will organize trainings, workshops and seminar to promote basic skilling and education among both blue collar workers and white collar professionals with a view to have a prosperous community building.

Entrepreneurship Promotion
The UBYPM under the guidance of Shweta Shalini will promote self-employment and entrepreneurship among the community to make the community job-givers rather than job-seekers. The entrepreneurship promotion will aim at establishing a rich ecosystem of entrepreneurs who will work together for the welfare and prosperity of the community with an aim to provide employment and also grow existing business enterprises.