Varavelpu directed by Sathyan Anthikad and Mithunam directed by Priyadarshan and written by Sreenivasan were movies that displayed in a witful way the labyrinth one gets caught in if one planned to start a small-scale industrial startup in Kerala. Despite the multiple governance change from the left wing to the right wing and so forth, the progress was at a rate that almost confirmed the propagated idea that Kerala was not industrial-friendly. But the fact that the declared target of 'One lakh MSMEs in One year' by the Industries department was achieved in just 8 months is a clear sign that there are visible changes compared to the past that deserves appreciation. As a cherry on top, in a conference chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Union government presented the entrepreneurship year program as a best practice in the ‘Thrust on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)‘ category.

In our state where the officials barricade the ones who step forward to invest, where the union's leaders fight only for their rights, the progress in entrepreneurship schemes seen will increase the confidence that things can be done through these tracks. Almost 10,000 entrepreneurs who joined this scheme are meeting today at Kochi under the direction of the industries department. From available records, it is seen that 12,2637 enterprises were registered. An investment of 7498.22 crores was collected from Kerala and 264.463 new job opportunities were created. A good start of course. But the uphill battle of successfully following through lies in front of the government. When the success rate of new ventures in small-scale industries is low at the national level, the cautious support of the government is vital for these entrepreneurs. It has to be noted that almost a quarter of lakh of these enterprises are led by women. One has to be vigilant to find an emporium and make use of the infinite possibilities available on e-commerce platforms. The government promising that they will help the entrepreneurs and that they will open offices in all districts is a good effort.

The success of the entrepreneur scheme inaugurated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on 30th March last year have planning skills written all over it. Government and public workers kept aside their political ideologies and cooperated. Through well-thought-out programs like meet the minister, meet with the investor, chat with minister, industries minister P Rajeev actively interceded with everything. In the field of Industrial friendliness, Kerala was able to increase its rank by 13 positions, to 15th from 28th. The direct monitoring of minister has helped to make sure that officials are not allowed to make the entrepreneurs run erratically for permissions and if that happens higher officials will interfere. This approach has helped in giving hope that the new industrial policies will also be transparent.

Many of our schemes fail because the officials handling them do not have a sense of responsibility. The condition that there is no one to question the failure of one's duty has to change. An exemplary interference by the ones at the helm of governance has helped in the success of the entrepreneur scheme.