Another feather? Letter to the Editor

West Bengal under Mamata Banerjee has been on news for all the wrong reasons starting from communal politics before elections to political hatred post-elections. She is always against the Union government as if West Bengal is an independent country. She declares that she shall be selective in implementing the laws that are passed by the Parliament in her State. Another feather is added to her governance and that is a fake vaccination camp that was busted in her state. Many high-profile administrative officers were involved. For the first time it has happened in the country and it calls for a celebration. The second feather is that National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) team that went to investigate the post-poll-related violence was attacked by her goons. The only safe and secured people residing in West Bengal under her regime are Rohingyas and immigrant Muslims from Bangladesh who are given red carpet welcome with government mechanism doing all the paper works to make them citizens of India instantly. The original inhabitants are leaving out in fear and still, huge numbers are reeling in refugee camps in Assam. CM Banerjee is certainly following the Kerala model designed by the communist Chief Minister.

Julie Bhuyan,

Gaurisagar

Toy citizens

Nagoro, a small village in Japan caught my attention the other day while I was surfing the internet. I was looking for strange places across the world and this particular place Nagoro in Japan hooked me. Nagoro is a place where only about 27 people live but the number of dolls far outnumbers the number of breathing humans. Nagoro is home to more than 350 dolls which are placed at different spots in the village in different actions. Nagoro once housed more than 300 people but many of them have moved out or died. The population of the village started to decrease rapidly and this made one of its residents Tsukimi Ayano very sad. After her father's death, she was stitching a doll that looked like her father so that she never felt the void created by her father's death, at that very moment she thought that she could stitch dolls of villagers who have moved out or died. She started this back in the early 2000s and there is no stopping her. This village sounds interesting and sad at the same time and also serves food for the soul.

Noopur Baruah,

Tezpur

Online examinations

and technologies

With the technology change, the method of online examinations is a saviour in the education system. This method is saving the academic year of the students as they cannot go to schools, colleges and universities to appear in their examinations due to the pandemic. But technology cannot be trusted all the time. As we can see there are lots of errors happening while uploading the answer sheets of the students in their respective portals. Recently Gauhati University students faced many problems regarding the upload. This is creating fear in the minds of the students of other universities also as they are also approaching their examinations. So it's very necessary to take necessary measures to control such a scenario. The number of portals should be increased to avoid chaos. So through the columns of your esteemed daily, I would like to request the Education Department as well as other departments concerned to kindly look into the matter and carry out some other steps so that the students need not face such hurdles.

Aranyani Borah,

Guwahati

Actress Shiva Rani Kalita

It is a matter of great pride and honour to the Assamese Film Industry that Shiva Rani Kalita, the lead actress of Kripal Kalita's renowned film 'Bridge', fetched the Best Actress award at the 'Ottawa 4th Indian Film Festival Award'. If this Lakhimpur based 22-year-old talented girl gets more opportunities in acting, then she may be surely shined by her inner talents. We congratulate Shiva Rani for achieving such a prestigious award and offer our gratitude to Kripal Kalita for making such a realistic film that reflects the nuanced relationship between the river Brahmaputra and the dwellers on its banks.

Rupak G Duarah,

Guwahati

The deceiver

In a democracy, the government functionaries mainly depend upon the efficiencies of the bureaucrats who are the actual pragmatists of government policies. So, their appointments should be made on a pure merit basis instead of a money basis. But in Assam what we have been noticing from the time of early nineties to almost 2016, most of the APSC cadres were selected from the backdoor through the system of bribery and political pressure. During that period merit counted less and money played a pivotal role in getting services through the APSC. Not only in APSC, more or less the same methodology was applied in other department's appointments also. It was heard that to get an ACS category Rs 20-30 lakh was bribed to the then chairman-cum-appointing authority. It was then a nightmare for poor economic background brilliant students to crack an APSC job. People used to believe that these jobs are only for rich moron students. After taking the job at the cost of a huge amount of money, these black sheep collapsed the backbone of the Assam government's administration by applying the red tape, not moving files without taking a bundle of money. Their interest is not for the welfare of the people of the state but for adding property under their belts. By doing this they are not only deceiving the nation but also themselves. This shameless species are the worst deceiver or traitor of the country and therefore my appeal to the government that the guilty should be imprisoned by confiscating their properties.

Harsha Mohan Sarma,

Nalbari

Timely reporting

Your reporter deserves high praises for in-depth reporting on the status of the water supply in Guwahati. The ambitious project started way back in the tenure of Torun Gogoi's second term is yet to see the light of the day. In between two Chief Ministers Torun Gogoi (3rd term) and Sarbananda Sonowal came and went but the project is yet to see the light of the day. Now going by the detailed report of the snail pace progress which was presented by your reporter another period of 5-8 years is on cards for the citizens. Till then the citizens have to cry for potable water and keep on burning their purses daily by buying water from private parties.

Pratuljyoti Buragohain,

Guwahati.

MSMEs: Key to an inclusive and sustainable recovery

The recent pandemic has brought many challenges to small and medium industries around the world. We have seen that Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) have been contributing to the progress of many countries. Global data says that 600 million jobs will be needed by 2030 to absorb the growing global workforce, which makes SME development a high priority for many governments around the world. In emerging markets, most formal jobs are generated by SMEs, which create 7 out of 10 jobs. Increasing annual investments in small and medium-sized enterprises by $1 trillion would yield disproportionate dividends in terms of progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

Among the private sector, Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs), especially those led by women, youth, ethnic minorities and migrants, suffered the most due to the pandemic. An International Trade Centre survey on COVID-19 impact among businesses in 136 countries has shown that nearly 62% of women-led small businesses have been strongly affected by the crisis, compared to just over half of firms led by men, and women-owned are 27% more likely not to survive the pandemic. Formal and informal MSMEs make up over 90% of all firms and account, on average, for 70% of total employment and 50% of GDP. As such, they are key actors in achieving a green recovery.

India has approximately 6.3 crore MSMEs. The number of registered MSMEs grew 18.5% Y-o-Y to reach 25.13 lakh (2.5 million) units in 2020 from 21.21 lakh (2.1 million) units in 2019. The Indian MSMEs sector contributes about 29% towards the GDP through its national and international trade. According to the ministry of MSME the definition of micro, small and medium is as follows:

n Micro: Manufacturing Enterprises and Enterprises rendering Services Investment in Plant and Machinery or Equipment: Not more than Rs 1 crore and Annual Turnover not more than Rs 5 crore

n Small: Investment in Plant and Machinery or Equipment: Not more than Rs 10 crore and Annual Turnover not more than Rs 50 crore

n Medium: Investment in Plant and Machinery or Equipment: Not more than Rs 50 crore and Annual Turnover not more than Rs 250 crore

The General Assembly of the United Nations declared 27 June Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day, to raise public awareness of their contribution to sustainable development and the global economy. In 2021, the theme is "MSME 2021: the key to an inclusive and sustainable recovery." As micro, small and medium-sized enterprises emerge stronger from the aftermath of COVID-19, the United Nations and its partners celebrate the pivotal role that these resilient entrepreneurs play in strengthening the global economy. Achieving the SDGs and an economy that is greener and fairer requires resilient and flourishing MSMEs everywhere. MSMEs are an important element in the implementation of SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth) and SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure.)

This sector has emerged as a highly vibrant and dynamic sector of the Indian economy over the last five decades. MSMEs not only play a crucial role in providing large employment opportunities at comparatively lower capital cost than large industries but also help in the industrialization of rural & backward areas, thereby, reducing regional imbalances, assuring more equitable distribution of national income and wealth. MSMEs are complementary to large industries as ancillary units and this sector contributes enormously to the socio-economic development of the country.

Pandemic has also brought the opportunity for the MSME sector. It is the time to be more self-reliant and 'Make in India' more reality instead of getting things from outside. Entrepreneurs can take up an opportunity and explore support from government and other business houses to enter into MSME and make their dream come true. This day allows us to focus on the same and MSME can truly help us in recovery as we have suffered due to the pandemic.

Ranjan K Baruah,

(bkranjan@gmail.com)