An Investigative Report by Manjari

--------------------------------------------------The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Government of India, has published an unusual magazine titled MSME Patrika. Whether this magazine is monthly, quarterly, or annual remains unclear—even after considerable investigation. But what has been uncovered so far has turned into a sensational revelation in the world of journalism. It is evident that in the process of publishing this magazine, rules were blatantly ignored, and during its launch, both the President and the target audience of the magazine were misled—before and after its release. Whether this was done deliberately or due to ignorance on the part of Indian Economic Service officials associated with the magazine (editor and sub-editor) remains a subject of investigation.

According to sources, a press release issued from a government office on June 26, 2025, stated:

"Hon'ble President will release MSME Patrika, an in-house journal which will provide useful information and insights on the issues and opportunities related to the MSME sector and will act as a forum for experience sharing among MSME."

This confirms that the President of India, Smt. Droupadi Murmu, released what was described as an in-house magazine. However, the facts printed and published in the magazine itself tell quite a different story !

For instance, the Office of the Development Commissioner (MSME) has been referred to in the magazine as the "Office of Development Commission."

At what point this office of the Government of India became a "Commission," no one is ready to answer or clarify on record !

Another glaring issue is that the price of the magazine has been printed as ₹100. Yet nowhere is it mentioned where this money should be deposited—creating a suspicious ground for financial irregularities. Experts point out that an in-house magazine generally has no price at all, as it is meant for internal circulation. In such a situation, why was this magazine priced at ₹100 per copy? Why was this not disclosed to the President’s Office before the release? And why was the dignity of the highest constitutional office unnecessarily compromised in this entire episode?

Other facts printed in this MSME magazine are equally controversial. For instance, an RNI (Registrar of Newspapers for India) number has been printed—something not usually found in an in-house publication. If the Government has amended the rules of publication and printing, this journalist is not aware of it. But the next revelation is even more shocking: the RNI number printed in the magazine shows that it has been registered since 1976 ! This clearly means that the President’s Office was kept in the dark, and the President was made to release a magazine that was not new, but decades old !

This magazine stands as a glaring example of government negligence. For such work, the Government of India has a structured system of the Indian Information Service (IIS), recruited through the Union Public Service Commission, yet their expertise seems to have been completely ignored in the editing and publication of this magazine. As a result, the editorial hierarchy in the magazine shows a bizarre anomaly: the co-editor has been shown as junior to the sub-editor—even though in standard editorial practice, the sub-editor is always the most junior member of the team.

Sources further reveal that no action has been taken so far against the factual error on the magazine’s inner cover page, where an old photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been given a new caption containing a glaring mistake. According to the magazine, the photograph is dated September 20, 2025—yet September 20, 2025, is still ten days away ! Such an unimaginable and unforgivable blunder brings disrepute to the office of the Prime Minister.