MP govt's rakshabandhan plan creates an opportunity for postal department

A wish and a message

The Madhya Pradesh government is leaving no stone unturned this election season. State Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan is preparing to shoot off letters to more than 7.5 million women in the state on the occasion of rakshabandhan. These letters would speak about the various schemes aimed at women the state government has launched besides offering the CM's wishes to the recipients. The letters have requested responses from the recipients in the form of missed calls, WhatsApp or text messages. While a response would mean the message has reached the intended destination, it would also help the state government create a database that the Bharatiya Janata Party can tap into while canvassing for the upcoming elections.

Opportunity in a challenge

The MP government's plan to send rakshabandhan letters to the state's women has created an opportunity and thrown up challenges for the state postal department. The letters are being printed at eight private printing presses in the capital city of Bhopal. The plan earlier was to avail of the services of private courier firms to distribute the letters but later it was decided that they would be sent through India Post. Most post offices in Bhopal are equipped to stamp and distribute a maximum of 65,000 letters a day. Sifting through 7.5 million addresses would certainly involve more man-hours but the postal department is working overtime with temporary teams to prove itself equal to the task. 

Anagram at play

Leading smartphone brand Xiaomi has launched a new phone under a sub-brand, Poco. The smartphone packs powerful hardware at a substantially low price compared to competition. However, the brand name Poco has left many puzzled: Why would Xiaomi want to create another sub-brand when it already has one in form of Redmi? One conspiracy theory doing the rounds is that it is Xiaomi’s way of getting back at Chinese rival Oppo (sounds similar to Poco), which recently launched a sub-brand Realme to disconcert perhaps the popular Redmi user base.