Sanchita Chatterjee, BS News Agency: A political firestorm has erupted in West Bengal following a remark made by the newly appointed Governor, R.N. Ravi. The Governor had called upon the state's youth to become agents of change in order to restore the state's lost dignity. He addressed a gathering at the city's Lok Bhawan to mark this occasion. A fierce political row has broken out in the state over a statement made by West Bengal Governor R.N. Ravi. The political slugfest has officially begun. On the occasion of the Bengali New Year, the former Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer—and current Governor of Bengal—was speaking at a 'Poila Baisakh' event held at Lok Bhawan. During his address, he urged the state's youth to become part of the movement for change. He spoke of the decline Bengal has witnessed over the past few years. Responding to this, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee launched a counter-attack, taking a jibe at him by sarcastically referring to him as "Latsaheb" (the colonial-era term for Governor). What exactly did the Governor say?
R.N. Ravi stated that the state's share of the national capital has plummeted from 10.6% to a mere 5% today. "This is a land of intellectually vibrant people... yet today, our Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in schools and colleges falls significantly below the national average. Our country boasts over 55 million registered and operational MSMEs. What is our share in this? As the data indicates, we have only 300,000 registered MSMEs. Unfortunately, this is a distressing situation."