IFFCO conducted its Annual General Meeting in the NCUI auditorium in N Delhi on Tuesday with thousands of delegates gracing the occasion. Surrounded by almost all the 21 directors of the fertilizer cooperative board, Chairman N P Patel enumerated the achievements of the fertilizer giant and stressed the welfare of the farmers of the country.

Managing Director Shri U S Awasthi thanked the delegates who had come from various parts of the country and said that farmers’ interest is the focal point of IFFCO’s planning.

But more than the Chairman and MD it was the delegates paying glowing tributes to the leadership. They said that under the leadership of Dr Awasthi IFFCO is growing by leaps and bounds and has become synonymous with trust and dependability.

One of the delegates said that people buy Iffco fertilizer without hesitating for a moment as the brand name of Iffco evokes tremendous confidence.

Many delegates expressed huge thanks to Dr Awasthi for giving 20 per cent dividend year after year unfailingly. They offered him full support and wished the good work being done by him to continue.

Drawing from different states including Bihar, Punjab, Maharashtra and south India the speeches of delegates were presenting the true colour of multi-lingual and multi-cultural India.

Readers may recall that IFFCO again notched up a profit of more than a thousand crore in the financial year 2011-12 despite a depressing local and global scenario. It has also increased its turn over from Rs 22000 crore to nearly Rs 26000 crore.

Delegates were given 24 carat imported gold weighing 5 gram.

Season of AGMs in Multi State Cooperative Societies has begun. AGMs are annual event when all the delegates from across the country come to participate in the meeting of Multi state cooperative societies.

NAFED, NCCF, KRIBHCO, NCUI and other multi state societies are going to have their AGM soon.

AGMs are notorious for being a routine and perfunctory affair, though in bylaws books it has right to recall and reject not only the Chairman but also the entire board of Directors.

The agenda of AGM is usually prepared in advance and sent to the delegates so that he or she discusses the issue at local level with all the participating societies.

Accounts of current year as well as that of coming year are passed in the AGM. If there is question of change in by laws, it is AGM only which has the power to do so.

But in practice AGM is usually under control of a few which usually includes Chairman, Managing Director and a few close associates. They read out the agenda and try to get it passed in great hurry.

Soon after, gifts are distributed to delegates and every one rush for lunch-thereby reducing the great democratic process into a farce.

Members are usually not allowed to speak out their mind as speakers are chosen in advance. Problems plaguing the cooperative are not put before the AGM and delegates are hardly given a chance to speak their mind on issues of corruption or favouratism being practiced in the name of cooperative movement.

Cooperative movement cannot succeed till democracy is practiced at its best.Indiancooperative.com wishes delegates to raise issue in unison against those who are belittling the name of cooperatives.

In this series we would bring out issues plaguing each multi state cooperative societies whose AGM is slated soon. And Indiancooperative .com would exhort the delegates to effectively raise their voice so that hanky-panky in cooperatives is stopped.

Delegates should recognize their power as it is because of them that cooperative is functioning. Small gifts are their anyway but nothing should stop them from fighting their cause. They can change the chairman and the entire board if only they remain united.

NCUI can perhaps take leaf from Madhya Pradesh Cooperatives. What NCUI should be doing is being done by the Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan. MP is organizing a global convention on cooperation to  mark the International Year of Cooperation 2012.

The convention will be held in Bhopal in February 2012 under the joint aegis of Cooperatives Department and Sahkar Bharti. More than 300 delegates from 25 to 30 countries will take part in the convention.

This information was given at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Chief Minister Shri Chouhan said that information about latest developments in the cooperative sector in other countries will give a new dimension and pace to the cooperative movement in the country and state.

At the meeting, Cooperatives Minister Shri Gaurishankar Bisen was appointed as convener and Sahkar Bharti’s national general secretary Shri Subhash Mandge as co-convener for making arrangements for the convention. It was also decided that the convention will be held in Bhopal on February 9 and 10, 2012.

Members of Planning Commission and experts of financial and technological institutions will also be invited to the convetion. The convention will be attended by prominent personalities of cooperative movement. At the convention, deliberations will be made on the need to view cooperative movement as economic entrepreneurship and possibilities of such new sectors like water management, power distribution and insurance will be explored.

Those present at the meeting included National president of Sahkar Bharti Shri Satish Marathe, general secretary Shri Subhash Mandge, Yatish Jain, MARKFED chairman Shri Ramakant Bhargav, Apex chairman Shri L.D.B. Kishan Singh Bhatol, chairman of Bhopal Dairy Federation Shri Dharam Singh, Additional Chief Secretary Shri R. Parshuram, Principal Secretary Agriculture Shri M.M. Upadhyaya, Registrar, Cooperatives Shri Arun Pandey and other concerning officers.