On the eve of International Year of Cooperative (IYC) Una District Cooperative Development Federation organized a conference in collaboration with Department of Cooperation at Una in Himachal Pradesh.

The seminar was a huge success with departmental officials throwing lights on various aspects of “Audits”, “Legal amendments”, “Managerial hindrances” and other Obstacles in the way of cooperatives.

The cooperators from the far flung areas of the District came to participate in the seminar and lauded the role of officials and the Uncofed for this unique programme. With this seminar the series of “International Cooperative Year celebrations” have picked up at Block Levels too.

Additional Registrar of Cooperative Societies Smt. Raakhil Kahaloan( IAS),  Deputy Commissioner Una, Mr  J. R. Katwal (IAS),  Assistant Registrar Coop Socs Una, Mr Sudhir Katoach and Mr Rajinder Sharma, a well-known co-operator and member of BODs of National and state organizations, were present  on the occasion. More than 250 delegates from different cooperative organizations of the District Una participated in the conference.

The conference was hosted by Ravie Jaswal, Delegate IFFCO and a Inspector with the department of Cooperation.

Mr Rajinder Sharma in his introductory address highlighted the importance of International Cooperative Year, and its goal of expanding public awareness about the role of cooperatives.

Dr Vivek Pathania, District Development officer NABARD spoke about the Revival of Cooperative Credit Structure to promote agricultural based activities.  He said the PACS of the state should work as multipurpose societies and diversify their activities.

Mr Bhupinder Singh, Principal of Himcapes, a cooperative, the first of its kind in India, promoting professional education in Law and Nursing, presented his analysis of  the proposed constitutional amendments in the cooperative law.

Additional Registrar, Cooperatives Himachal Pardesh Smt Raakhil Kahaloan, emphasized the need of socio-economic development of the countryside through cooperatives. She called upon the cooperative bodies to use the latest techniques and management methods to be able to survive in the current fiercely competitive environment.

Sh. J.R.Katwal, Deputy Commissioner Una, described the role of District Una in Indian Cooperative Movement and recounted how Thakur Mian Heera Singh worked hard to form a soil conservation society in the year 1892.

Sh. Vijay Sharma, Vice-President Uncofed expressed his gratitude towards all present and thanked all for the active participation of the cooperators.

“We have to put our best foot forward” was the theme of speech NCUI President Dr Chandra Pal Singh Yadav made on the eve of NCUI’s AGM that took place in NCUI auditorium in N Delhi on Thursday.

The AGM was held in a critical time when the world is celebrating International Year of Cooperative on one hand, NCUI is bleeding from within on the other. The problem of shortage of fund has escalated to alarming level for the apex organization.

Speaking on the occasion Mr Yadav impressed on the need to make most of the opportunities thrown by the IYC 2012. Lauding Indian cooperative movement as the biggest in the world he said that effort to reach out to the last man is being made this year.

Films, exhibitions, seminars and various other means of publicity are being organized to celebrate International Year of Cooperative, he said. He also applauded the constitutional amendment which raised the act of forming cooperatives to the status of Fundamental Rights.

The AGM was attended by delegates who had come from various parts of the country as well as members of governing council. However, the number of participants failed to fill up the auditorium. Communication gap was cited as the reason behind shortfall in number.

General Body also made a renewed appeal to government for release of fund as its various field projects are languishing with staffs facing untold miseries. The usual business of passing the accounts of past and next year was completed in the AGM.

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.

Indiancooperative.com scaled new heights in the year 2012 when readers offered their unflinching support by visiting it in millions. The months of January and February this year saw visitors cross a figure of 10 lakhs.

This huge response to the portal is encouraging as it means empowerment of common members of the cooperative societies who had been without a voice.

Our Comment box is open for anybody to express themselves and it was reassuring to find this developing into a platform for debates and discussions.

Indian Cooperative scene is vast and what we see is merely the tip of the ice-berg. According to an estimate made by National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI) more than 25 crore people (250 million) are connected to this movement in the country.

Ten lakh is an insignificant figure that way. Yet the readership figures for any publications including the Times of India do not go beyond this number.

But what is most reassuring is the trend of growth. We have set up a goal of 20 lakh (2 million) by the end of the year. So far we have grown faster than we had  planned and we would not be surprised if we were  overtaken again.

Only two years back we attracted traffic to the tune of 30 thousand per month and now it is 11 lakh per month.

But it is a matter of satisfaction that we have had some recognition within the country and without.

International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) approached us about becoming a contributor of news stories on the Indian cooperative scene. A relationship is struck that has provided our activities with the global exposure.

The news portal www.coop erected by ICA on the eve of the  IYC 2012 continues to be dominated by news  stories from India, thanks to a hardworking and reliable  editorial team of Indiancooperative.com.

It is time we expressed gratitude to our sponsorers, needless to say,  our  journey could  not have been smooth without their support.  IFFCO, AMUL, Saraswat Bank deserve special mention.

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar said that cooperative model of development is unique in the sense that it puts people and not capital at the centre of development. She was speaking on the occasion of 24^th Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Lecture organized every year on the occasion of cooperative week by cooperative giant IFFCO in N Delhi.

Lok Sabha Speaker also released logo of International Year of Cooperative 2012 on this occasion.

“Nehru connected with children effortlessly and when I as a child would go to him with Babuji(Babu Jagjivan Ram) on the occasion of his birth day, he would put a piece of cake in my mouth lovingly. His this connectedness is to explain his love for poor countrymen resulting into his faith in cooperative model of development as panacea of all ills”, she added.

Extolling IFFCO as a cooperative organization which has helped build a self-reliant India in food grains by supplying critical nutrients, she lauded its Managing Director U S Awasthi and his team for making cooperative movement a success story.

“I know Mr Awasthi for 25 years and have often benefitted form his experience”, she said. Iffco is a beacon of hope in India’s cooperative firmament.

One of the focus areas in her lecture was self-help groups. She referred them as critical dimension of human empowerment and wanted established cooperatives to hold their hands to stabilize and grow. Along with Iffco she named many other cooperatives such as Amul, SEWA, dairy cooperative of Bihar, Self-help group of Andhra and women cooperatives of Uttrakashi and lauded their effort in the strengthening of cooperative movement in India.

Professionalize the management of cooperatives, erect cooperative institutions and follow the true tradition of cooperative as envisioned by Nehru was the massage she gave on this occasion. New outlook in government would revitalize cooperative movement and help realize Nehru’s goal, she hoped.

She also gave three important sahakarita awards on this occasion. Iffco sahkarita Ratna Award was given to Sh Ranmal Singh from Rajasthan, Iffco sahkarita Bandhu award was given to D Venkat Rama Reddy and Iffco sahkarita Ratna Award was bestowed on Samar Pal Singh from UP.

Speaking on the occasion Iffco MD, U S Awasthi profusely thanked Smt Meira Kumar. I knew her from the time when in Sasaram district of Bihar I was posted and would often go to meet Babuji (Jagjivan Ram).It is a matter of great pride that as  Lok Sabha speaker she has come here to guide us, he added. Emphasizing the role of cooperatives in the growth of country, Dr Awasthi cited the efforts of Iffco’ farm forestry arm IFFDC which has helped thousands of farmers and farm women.