The opening speech on the occasion was given by the Managing Director of SBI A. Krishna Kumar. In his speech the Managing Director of SBI had stated that State Bank is the largest banking organisation in India with more than 15000 branches across the length and breadth of the country, serving every section of society imaginable. He also said that SBI is deeply committed to serving the society not only through banking services and banking products but also through various methods which would help in the enhancement of the lifestyle of the people in India.

However, since SBI basically deals with banking SBI is not in a position to go and inspect for themselves the different problems faced by the population of the country, hence, the banking organisation had sought the help of various other organisations. The duty of inspecting and finding out the difficulties of the people was right up the field of these other organisation which had joined hands with SBI in their endeavour to aid the citizens of the country. It is through these sources that SBI has managed to come up with solutions for the crisis faced by many, and has also managed to help them in some way or the other.

SBI in its attempt to help the needy decided a couple of years ago to focus on two major aspects of life which they believe are important and not so well developed in India as compared to other countries. These two spheres were education and health care. With these two facets in mind, SBI went out on a mission to help build up education and health care. SBI had done this with the hope that aiding educational institutions and health care facilities such as schools and hospitals may help in the improvement of the lifestyle of the people of India in the long run. SBI had done wonders by donating school buses, ambulances and various other materials and equipment to different organisation all across the country, a noble deed needless to say.

Coming back to the day of the function, the occasion was well received by many, as the turnout for the event was quite appreciable. Among the important guests who were at the venue was none other than Member of the Indian National Congress Party (INC) and present Minister of Social Welfare, Deborah Marak. Deborah Marak also spoke on the occasion and had praised SBI on their noble deed of helping the society. She had stated that the bank was doing a tremendous job by helping the people of the society especially the people of the rural areas who are in need of help. She also said that she hopes that this will help bring forth a better change in the society.

Another person who spoke on the occasion was Swami Amiteshananda, Ram Krishna Mission Ashram, which is situated at Cherrepunji. Shri. Swami Amiteshnanda, had said that the ambulance donated by the SBI will help the people of Cherrapunji, who are living in the remote areas to reach medical sectors more conveniently as around 19 lakhs was donated to BADKIL, Tura for an ambulance and medical equipments by the people of Garo Hills. The ambulance will be a great help to the people of remote areas as transportation to the medical institution can be a problem. It should also be mentioned that SBI had also donated 10 sewing machines and 10 embroidery machines to the Women for Integrated Sustainable Empowerment in an effort to generate employment for the unemployed women of Meghalaya. The function came to an end through the symbolic flagging off of the ambulances to be received in their respective institutions.

The SBI has indeed outdone itself with this selfless act of compassion for the society. Their aid towards society through the donation of sewing machines and embroidery machines will not only generate employment for women but may also bring out the hidden potential of the traditional weavers and tailors of the region.  Secondly, the ambulances donated by them will prove to be a great help to the people living in the rural areas of the region, as it is an open secret that transportation for these people is difficult as many of the roads, especially those in the rural areas of the State are in bad shape. All that is left to do is just to wait, see and hope that these donations by SBI will help in bringing about a positive change in the society.

Hubert Nongkhlaw.