Excerpts of condolence letter written by IFFCO Managing Director Mr U S Awasthi to Mrs.Molly Kurien on the demise of cooperative genius Mr Verghese Kurien

Dear Mrs. Kurien,

I express my heartfelt grief on passing away of Dr. Kurien, the father of the white revolution and the founding father of the great cooperative institution AMUL.

He will always be an inspiration to the cooperative institutions like ours and our 40,000 cooperative members and 5.5 crore members. We will always miss the presence of the great soul, a pioneer, who believed in the strength of the cooperative movement.

Dr. Kurien not only proved to the world that cooperatives can be successful business entities which truly symbolizes the idea of ‘inclusive business practices’ but he showed to the world the power of rural India and the power of the Indian farmer.

AMUL led by Dr.Kurien, in a way epitomizes the power of ‘one for all and all for one’, in bringing white revolution.

This helped the Institution like IFFCO in ushering the green revolution. Both these noble cooperative institutions stood for a vision with compassion to become a symbol of successful Indian cooperatives. Dr.Kurien, was a noble soul behind the above idea.

On the behalf of entire IFFCO family, I once again pray to God to give peace to the spirit of this noble soul and may his guidance and ‘Aashirwad’ continue to guide us on the righteous path.

With kindest regards.

Yours sincerely,
(U.S.Awasthi)

-By James Morrison

Cooperatives can learn something from Facebook, especially when they are hunting about for ways of accessing external investor capital. Mark Zuckerberg wrote a crucially important letter in February 2012 to potential Facebook investors where he stated his mission for Facebook:

“We don’t build services to make money; we make money to build better services”

This statement applies equally well to cooperatives. Cooperatives don’t exist to make money per se. Cooperatives exist to provide valued services for members, whether that be collective purchasing, processing of produce, or whatever. It is the quality and economy of this service that defines the cooperative.

What is interesting, especially in context of the May 2012 IPO and consequent fall in share value, is that Facebook investors didn’t pay attention to the implications of Zuckerberg’s statement. They paid a 60x multiple of earnings when Apple and Google were trading around 15x. Facebook’s profit margin was also already at 50%, leaving questions as to the future upside.

If there was any doubt that they might be in for a rocky start, Mark Zuckerberg did nothing to comfort them. In fact, he made it clear that he would not comfort them, listen to them, or be in any way distracted by the demands of investors. He did this by structuring the company to ensure he retained near-complete control of it with 57% of voting rights although he would retain only 22% ownership.

Zuckerberg is not naive. He is simply focussed on the long term, and he believes that this means putting the needs of members before those of investors:

“By focusing on our mission and building great services, we believe we will create the most value for our shareholders and partners over the long term – and this in turn will enable us to keep attracting the best people and building more great services. We don’t wake up in the morning with the primary goal of making money, but we understand that the best way to achieve our mission is to build a strong and valuable company”.

Cooperatives should take their lead from Mark Zuckerberg and issue similar statements when consorting with external investors. I imagine that less grief would have followed Satara’s partial listing if they had been this clear and uncompromising about the interests of kiwifruit growers. It is also particularly relevant to the impending public offering of investment units in Fonterra’s Shareholder Fund. It would be refreshing (and reassuring) if Theo and John were to state the following in a public letter:

“Fonterra doesn’t build dairy processing and marketing capabilities to make money; we make money to build better dairy processing and marketing capabilities, so we can provide sustainable returns to our New Zealand dairy farmer members”.

If the Facebook IPO is anything to go by, investors would simply ignore this statement and focus instead on what they wanted to hear. However, dairy farmers would derive great comfort from it and it would establish a clear moral authority in any future disputes with investors. In fact, a Zuckerberg-esque intention statement included in the prospectus would limit potential future claims by investors regarding breaches of the Securities Act and Fair Trading Act. Certainly no one could then argue they were misled by the cooperative when it acted solely in the long-term interests of dairy farmers.

-By arrangement with Newshub, ICA

Minister of State for Agriculture  Charan Das Mahant has told Rajya Sabha that the country has had a great success in milk production and the success could mainly be ascribed to the efforts put in by the milk cooperatives.

According to the minister, the anticipated milk production during the period 2011-12 is 127 million tonnes. The growth rate of milk production has outpaced the demographic growth over the past 10 years, the minister added.

India happens to be the biggest producer and consumer of milk in the world, the minister noted.

The minister said while the current milk procurement in the country was 262.12 lakh kg per day, the marketing of it was 219.87 lakh litre a day.

Sources say, considering the surge in the demographic growth, the country would need 150 million tonnes of milk by the close of the 12th Five Year Plan.

Odisha Chief Minister Navin Patnaik wants the center to ensure farmers get 45 days credit from the fertilizer companies. He has sent a letter to the central govt in this connection.

The chief minister said the cooperative organizations could play a very useful role in the present situation when an artificial scarcity of fertilizers is being created by the greedy dealers. However, the govt’s order that the cooperative organizations should be given only a week for fund mobilization has adversely affected the fertilizer supply in Odisha, chief minister added.

According to the chief minister, there has been a huge spike in the prices of fertilizers especially that of phosphatic and potassic ones. Due to drastic fluctuations in the prices, the Odisha farmers are facing serious difficulties, the chief minister emphasized.

The farmers are being exploited by the unscrupulous elements dealing in fertilizers. Not only that, because of high prices of phosphatic and potassic , farmers are using urea more  which could quickly degrade soil and reduce crop yield,  Navin Patnaik  noted.

At a time when the states in the eastern part of the country are preparing for a green revolution through an increase in consumption of fertilizers, the present developments do not augur well, the chief minister remarked.

Ravi Nitesh, New Delhi

At the time when capitalist are trying to take over the market without considering about environment and sustainable development methods, there is a need to provide support to cooperatives and to train, educate and empower the cooperatives.

Cooperatives are one of best ways to establish profit making groups as these are involved in empowering the people and thus contributing towards equality and social justice.

Unemployment is growing and thus the primary need is to provide income generation by providing employment to youths there. On the other hand, it must be noted that big corporate and plants may rupture the environment due to pollution, deforestations, displacement of people and waste disposals etc. Therefore the best option lying in the optimized utilization of natural resources and making sustainable and ecofriendly business in this traditionally rich state. Development can be achieved by establishing and promoting cooperatives in various sectors so that people can start work together and can achieve growth collectively.

Apart from this, it should also be noted that existing cooperatives and new cooperatives have to pay attention towards their working style in view of the environment.

In general view, cooperatives, due to its basis of formation (i.e. by the group of people) maintains a good network and mass approach vendors and customers of products/services. All these are its stakeholders and thus it may use all these links to enhance awareness about climate change.

These cooperatives may use strategies for protection of environment and to adopt ecofriendly techniques.  These strategies also need some initiatives by the side of state and cooperatives themselves. Such as:

Training: Cooperatives need to be trained on efficient ways of resource utilization and wastage prevention. They should know that which process/way is the ecofriendly approach to get services and products.

Reward & recognition: Awards and recognitions could be provided to group members adopting better methods.

Internal green audit: Members of cooperatives need to learn techniques to measure and quantify the carbon emissions.

External green audit: Qualified and expert members from some cooperatives may form a joint committee for environmental audit of other cooperatives.

Traditional knowledge: Cooperatives could be promoted to send their inputs of traditional knowledge, for any work. It is because, traditional techniques, most often are nature friendly.

Promotion to green business: Cooperatives involved in green businesses need to be promoted.

Cooperative consultancy: Members of cooperatives may form a new cooperative just to provide low cost consultancy to other companies, institutions etc. to find the ways of reducing the carbon footprints.

New initiatives: Cooperative may start new initiatives such as cloth banks, where people can deposit their old clothes and then cooperative can use these for making bags. These bags will be cheap in cost because of availability of raw material (cloth) for free. These low cost bags may replace plastic bags.

Education to schools: Cooperatives should participate in voluntary services for spreading awareness in schools.

Fund Contribution: Cooperatives may associate themselves with other organizations working with the objective of climate change mitigation, and may contribute a certain percentage of their earnings to sponsor some programs running for the cause.

Small Steps: Some small steps such as printing of environmental slogans and quotes, tips to save environments etc. can be used on bills prints, packing, uniforms etc.

Local issues of environment: Cooperatives may get engaged with various local institutions to address climate change. They can get barren lands from local authority on lease, and can start plantation. They can also be involved in fisheries, ponds making, rain water harvesting, handicrafts etc. to become more involved with green business.

In fact, any cooperative can generate income by its existing strategy too but it would be beneficial to them if they will adopt such approach that may benefit to other people and environment as well. After all, its only our responsibility to think about the life of future generation as they are equally entitled to get all the natural resources that we are utilizing at present. For a just and equal society, for reducing the gap between economical status and for protection of environment,  only sustainable development approach can bring a fruitful future for our earth.

A period of rain has begun in India and the country’s wheat stock stands threatened.  According to an estimate over half a dozen million tonnes of wheat lying in the open may be destroyed during the rainy season.

The govt is showing cosmetic concern and mulling over steps to move this huge amount of grain to safer places. Despite the problem persisting year after year concrete steps to solve the woes have been lacking.

The govt has asked the FCI to acquire storing space including the space available with the cooperative sugar mills in the country.

In addition, the govt has planned to distribute extra grains through PDS and open market to ease pressure on the existing storage facilities.

In a major climbe down cooperative giant IFFCO had to shift its venue from Vigyan Bhavan to Manekshaw Centre, in the army cantonment area of Delhi.

IFFCO is holding an International Cooperative Conference on the eve of International Year of Cooperative (IYC 2012) on 4th and 5th July. The President of India Mrs Pratibha Devisingh Patil has consented to inaugurate the function in which about 1300 delegates from 17 countries are expected to take part.

IFFCO sources say that invitations had already been sent out and this last-minute shift of venue is bound to cause inconvenience to participants.

Iffco found itself in the cross-fire of Environment Ministry and Vigyan Bhavan with the former insisting that it had booked the Bhavan much in advance to hold some inter-governmental conference of about 189 countries on the subject of environment.

Given the dwindling respect for cooperatives in the government, Iffco beat a retreat and shifted its venue to army cantonment area.

The International Cooperative Conference would be based on the theme “Cooperative Enterprises Build a Better World”.

Meanwhile, IFFCO is going ahead with massive preparations to make the conference a huge success. Talking to Indiancooperative.com, Director of Cooperative Development at IFFCO, Dr G N Saxena said that delegates in large number from the country as well as abroad would participate in the Conference.

Readers could recall that the year 2012 has been declared International Year of Cooperative by the United Nations. The conference would be our tribute to the cause of cooperative movement, added Dr Saxena.

The fertilizer Ministry has put distance limit on movement of fertilizers from ports and plants in a bid to reduce congestion in railway transportation and to lessen freight subsidy. That is to say, the companies cannot carry fertilizers beyond 1,400 km.

India imports six-to seven million tonnes of fertilizers per annum.

A source close to the ministry said fertilizer manufacturers and importers would have to stick to the distance limit and thus forego freedom of moving fertilizers anywhere they wanted.

The ministry has identified over a dozen ports from where fertilizers can be transported to the areas falling within the distance limit.

Experts say the move is prompted by laudable calculations.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has urged the Rangarajan Committee appointed by the Centrral govt to give its recommendations on sugar export policy, remunerative sugarcane price and levy sugar soon.

The committee is supposed to give a thorough and detailed report on various issues concerning the country’s sugar industry including the important issue of deregulation.

Accompanied by several of his senior cabinet colleagues Chief Minister Chavan met the committee chairman Dr C Rangarajan, Maharashtra govt sources were quoted as saying.

It is noteworthy that there   are nearly two hundred sugar factories in Maharashtra and an overwhelming majority of them are in the cooperative sector.  The industry boasts a turnover of several thousand crore providing millions of families the source of their livelihood. The workforce employed in the industry counts more than a million.

It is not without reason that the industry exerts a great amount of influence in the politics of the state.  It is generally believed that those exercising control over the industry would prevail in the power-politics  of Maharashtra.

The Haryana government is employing a two-pronged strategy to strengthen  the cooperative sector in the state.

In the first place, a massive recruitment campaign has been started filling vacant positions at all levels in the department of cooperation.

Secondly, computerization of cooperative banks to effect a qualitative change in their services has already been put into action.

Sources say these steps are bound to have a wide ranging impact on the cooperative sector in Haryana.