A trio of three institutions- Nabard, the Unique Identification Authority of India and the National Payment Corporation of India would soon pool their resources to set up a Center of Excellence for Rural Financial Institutions in Mumbai.

The goal of the center would be to enable rural and cooperative banks and sundry other financial bodies to work more effectively in terms of payment service and financial inclusion.

The center would represent a process of modernization and advancement in direct delivery of financial services as well as act as a conduit for govt. subsidies.

The news that Bombay would be home to the center has triggered a wave of excitement in the financial circles.

In a rather grand ceremony held in Nehru Place in Delhi on Wednesday,NACOF was born. It is a federation of agri cooperative and declares tough competition both to Nafed and nccf.

The occasion was graced by leading cooperators, Member of Parliament and a Union Minister. Srikant Jena ,the fertilizer minister and Sandip Dixit ,Member of Parliament from East Delhi also came despite House being in session.Managing Director of Fishcofed Mr B K Mishra,MD of Labour cooperatives R M Pandey and a host of leaders were present on the occasion.

Talking on the occasion Sri Ramekbal Singh, the Chairman of Nacof said that  the cooperatives have to reach to farmers so that he gets fruit of  his labour. Nacof will try to procure, store and sell food grains directly from the farmers and will be of big help to them.

Srikant Jena ,the state minister for fertilizer said that cooperatives are doing good work since last 60 years and he has come to attend this function to understand cooperatives closely. Cooperatives have long way to go and we have to achieve the dream of Jawahar Lal Nehru who wanted to take cooperatives to the remotest villages.

Talking about the government subsidies Sri Jena said that about Rs one lakh crore is given towards it yet the result is not spectecular. Fertilizer component is only 20 per cent of farming output, rest is seed, irrigation,procurement and safe storage. Cooperative has to play important role in these.

He assured the Nacof of all government help in achieving the target of helping the farmers of the country.

On the sidelines he also said that constitution amendment bill in cooperatives have to come up for discussion. He invited the present assembly to give their opinion and suggestion so that the act achieves its goal.

The function hall was jam packed as friends and associates of Ram Ekbal Singh from the cooperative world had gathered to lend support to him. Ram Ekbal Singh also happens to be former chairman of nccf and thus an old hand of cooperatives.

The Orissa Cooperation department will launch a 45-day-long statewide campaign christened ‘Cooperatives at your Door Step’ to sensitise the farmers to various facilities offered by the Cooperative Bank.

State Cooperation Minister Damodar Rout told newspersons that though the campaign would be observed from November one to December 15.

Dr Rout said during the campaign, the officials would sensitise the farmers to the credit facilities available from Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies(PACS), Kisan Credit Card Scheme and the credit facilities available for sharecroppers through Tenant Farmers Groups and Joint Liabilities Groups.

They would cover all families sustaining on agriculture under the Cooperatives

In an election marked by silent campaigning Chairman of NCCF Virendra Singh has emerged winner beating his rival Harbhajan Singh in a convincing manner.

There were about 1000 votes in which about 496 votes where cast. Virendra Singh got 485 votes while his rival got only 11 votes. Announcing his victory BK Saha,Chairman of CWC welcomed him once again to the fold of CWC Board.

Talking to Indian Cooperative .com Virendra Singh told that it was a very tough election as societies are spread from Kashmir to Kanya Kumari. I had decided not to fight as we are planning big role for NCCF in coming days. But my friends in CWC wanted me to fight, added a beaming Singh.

Harbhajan Singh is said to be a protégé of former union agriculture Minister Balram Jakher while Virendra Singh comes from the party of present agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. Virendra Singh also happens to be Chairman of NCCF, apex body of consumer cooperatives and is said to be close to Sharad Pawar.

CWC is a Public Sector Undertaking but has one representative from the cooperatives. It has a board of 15-16 members and is dominated by IAS officials followed by high profile Bankers. Giving cooperatives its due, one seat is allotted to cooperative sector.

There are 1007 votes spread across Indian states with the maximum representatives coming from UP. Only primary cooperative societies are its members. Both the leaders Harbhajan based in Punjab and Virendra in Mumbai were camping in Delhi since 30th October.

Talking to Indian cooperative Harbhajan Singh alleged that Virendra Singh has taken help of Sharad Pawar to influence voters. The votes coming by post are being included even after the due date (4th October) has lapsed, added Harbhajan.

Harbhajan claims that postal votes should be opened before the contestants which have not been done. Refuting Harbhajan’s charges Virendra Singh claims that unlike cooperatives the elections in CWC takes place under strict supervision and in many cases Harbhajan has got fake papers of support from the societies.

State-run Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) on Thursday paid its highest-ever dividend of Rs 14.22 crore for 2009-10 to Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.

“I am extremely happy that irrespective of economic slow down and increase in the operating expenses, CWC has declared an all time high dividend. It is a pleasant change to see a PSU declaring this kind of dividend,” Pawar said after accepting the cheque in New Delhi.

He said that CWC is focusing on building storage facilities for foodgrains keeping in mind the national priority.

CWC has a big plan to construct godowns on its own land to store foodgrains to the extent of four lakh tonnes in the next two years, besides creating 5.82 lakh tonnes of storage capacity under PEG-2009 scheme in Gujarat, Maharasthra and Kerala, he added.

Currently, CWC operates 482 warehouses with a total storage capacity of 105.97 lakh tonnes, of which the storage space for foodgrains is about 43.88 lakh tonnes.

According to CWC Managing Director B B Pattanaik, who presented the cheque, the Corporation has achieved the highest turnover of Rs 987.95 crore in the 2009-10 fiscal, against Rs 849.25 crore in the previous year, said the Corporation. The post tax profit for 2009-10 was 130.52 crore, up by 48.39 per cent from previous year, he said.

This high performance could be achieved due to increase in storage capacity by about one lakh tonne for foodgrains and an improvement in capacity utilisation to 85 per cent as against 82 per cent of the previous year, he said.

Pattanaik, however, said that the turnover could have risen substantially had the cost of storage been revised upward by the government. “Currently, storage cost for 50 kg of foodgrains is only Rs 2.06 per 50 kg for a month based on the base year 2005-06.”

Besides, handling of containers, revenue earned out of container rail transport operations and pest control activities also registered growth, he added.

Courtsey:PTI

Election steam is building up for a lone seat of cooperatives in Central Ware Housing Corporation(CWC). The two candidates Harbhajan Singh of Punjab and Virendra Singh of NCCF are busy garnering votes for their candidature.

Harbhajan Singh is said to be a protégé of former union agriculture Minister Balram Jakher while Virendra Singh comes from the party of present agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. Virendra Singh also happens to be Chairman of NCCF, apex body of consumer cooperatives and is said to be close to Sharad Pawar.

After winning a rather tough election to become the Chairman of NCCF, Virendra Singh has plunged headlong into election to come on the Board of Central Ware Housing Corporation.

The election is scheduled for 1^st of November. CWC is a Public Sector Undertaking but has one representative from the cooperatives. It has a board of 15-16 members and is dominated by IAS officials followed by high profile Bankers. Giving cooperatives its due, one seat is allotted to cooperative sector.

There are 1007 votes spread across Indian states with the maximum representatives coming from UP. Only primary cooperative societies are its members. Both the leaders Harbhajan based in Punjab and Virendra in Mumbai are heading towards Delhi on 30th October.

Election is keenly contested with charges of allegation and counter allegations flying thick and fast. Talking to Indian cooperative Harbhajan Singh alleged that Virendra Singh is taking help of Sharad Pawar to influence voters. The votes coming by post are being included even after the due date (4th October) has lapsed, added Harbhajan.

Harbhajan claims that postal votes should be opened before the contestants which are not being done.

Refuting Harbhajan’s charges Virendra Singh claims that unlike cooperatives the elections in CWC takes place under strict supervision.

Watch these lines to know more about the CWC elections.

Kerala Minister for Co – operation, G. Sudhakaran, said that he would be requesting a grant for the professional educational institutes in the co – operative sector so that it would be able to check the commercialization of professional education.

Speaking after inaugurating the graduation ceremony of the 2004 MBBS batch of the Co – operative Medical College (CMC) at Kalamassery, the Minister said the grant would also help the functioning of the college, which is running at a deficit.

Ninety – six medical graduates of the batch passed out on the day. The Minister also gave away medals to the top two students of the batch.

S.S. Chithra won the best outgoing student award besides the top medal for the first and the final years. Aishwarya P. got the top scoring medal for the second year and the second position in the first and final years of graduation.

The Cooperative Academy of Professional Education (CAPE) would be giving away 50 gold medals to the toppers in various courses run by the academy and those bagging the first position would get a medal worth five sovereigns of gold. CAPE has earmarked Rs. 10 lakh from its funds for this.

The CMC suffered a deficit of Rs. 12.5 crore last year in its budget. Over the past 10 years, the college has accumulated a liability of Rs. 87.5 crore. While there is no government support for the college, the banks in the co – operative sector have continued to support the college.

At the ceremony, Ramachandran Thekkedath, Vice – Chancellor of Cochin University of Science and Technology, presided. Dr. Chandra Mohan, Vice – Chancellor of Yenepoya University, delivered the convocation address and administered the oath to the graduates. Earlier, Dr.P.G.R. Pillai, medical director of the CMC, welcomed the gathering.

Dr. Philip Augustine, medical director, Lakeshore Hospital; Dr. Krishnankutty, Director, CAPE; and Dr. Roy Abraham Kallivayalil, Principal, CMC; were among those present.

96 Students Graduate from Co – Operative Medical College Kalamassery.

Among a few institutions that are doing well in Bihar DNS Regional Institute of Cooperative Management  figures prominently in these. It has many courses for all categories of people running from 3 days to 26 weeks. In  the  year gone by it imparted cooperative management skills to about 8473 participants in 280 courses.

Established in 1954-55 DNS Regional Institute of Cooperative Management   organizes training programmes for  both the non officials of cooperative societies as well as for the executives working in them. It has a team of qualified faculty with diverse professional back ground. Rural development, cooperative laws, credit, planning,  banking and such other key areas for the success of cooperative movement are taught here. The Institute offers Higher Diploma in Cooperative Management,  Diploma in Handloom cooperative management, Fisheries, Marketing, Cooperative Audit and Certificate Course even in Computer Application and System. Soon it is going to train 170 cooperative auditors-a must for cooperative movement to be successful. It also proposes to train cooperative inspectors in Higher Diploma in Cooperative Management.

Mr Ajai Rastogi, the dynamic  regional director of the Institute feels that as in Kerala, law should be enacted in Bihar too for compulsory training of cooperative management for people associated with it. It needs no mention that cooperative management skill  go a long way in making this movement successful. Gujarat is living example.

As to why cooperative movement has failed to take off in Bihar barring a few exception of COMFED , Mr Rastogi says that absence of credible cooperative leadership is partly to be blamed for this. Nitish Kumar has no doubt, sort of revived cooperative movement by conducting free and fair PACS election, it will take time before the movement picks up steam.

Whatever be the future, presence of a  Premier  institute is itself a necessary fodder for the growth of cooperative movement  whenever the time comes and DNS inspires hope on this front.