Violence in the cooperative elections presently underway in Tamil Nadu shows no signs of abating.

Yet again a violent incident has been reported from Ramanathapuram district of the state.

Police say twenty people have been injured in a clash between Congress and AIADMK members in elections to a PACS in a village in the district.

A noisy abusive argument between members of the two partie led to the incident, police said.

In a strange case, a candidate for presidentship of a cooperative society in Tamil Nadu has filed a habeas corpus petition in the Madras High Court complaining as when he went to submit his nomination papers for verification, the concerned election officer was missing.

The petitioner’s complaint with the local police has also been to no avail as the election officer has remained traceless.

The petioner has made allegations that his opponent has forced him to stay in a secret place and he is not being allowed freedom of movement. He has called upon the court to get the officer rescued from illegal confinement.

The incident has been reported from Madurai in Tamil Nadu. Sources say confusion reigns in the current five phase cooperative election in the state.

The Tamil Nadu state cooperative election commissioner has said the five phase elections to thousands of cooperative organisations in the state will begin soon.

The first phase will begin on 5th April and be over by 6th May. The dates for the remaining phases would be made known later, according to the press release issued by the election commission.

Sources say the cooperative elections would take several months to get completed. The last elections held in the state were in 2007, said the sources.

Experts hold that the 97th constitutional amendment has quickened the pace of democratization of cooperatives in the state.

The functioning of cooperative bodies in accordance with the democratic norms would mark a new phase of their development in Tamil Nadu, the experts were quoted claiming.

One AP Gowdhamasidharthan of Chennai had filed a petition in the Madras High Court demanding 19 percent reservation for posts of president for people of SC/ST categories under article 336 of the Indian constitution for the upcoming polls to the cooperative societies in Tamil Nadu.

The Court dismissed the petition saying the T.N. cooperative election commission is not competent to reserve posts and the election process being already underway from March 4, the court cannot entertain the petition filed on March 12.

Any ruling issued on the question would amount to an interference with the due electoral process, the High Court said.

Sources say, the dismissal of the petition has received an enthusiastic welcome in govt as well as cooperative circles.

Tamil Nadu Minister for Cooperation Sellur K Raju Natesan inaugurated a newly constructed MBA Block in the Institute of Cooperative Management Chennai. Dr.Chandrapal Singh Yadav President National Council for Cooperative Training had flown from Delhi to participate in the function.

The Minister in his speech advised the students to stand on their own feet and praised the Director for his efforts in completing the new building for MBA.

NCUI President Dr Yadav narrated the functioning of ICMs in the country and elaborated how it is effective in training and education.

Smt.M.P.Nirmala, Secretary of the dept of Cooperation Govt. of Tamil Nadu, J.C.D Prabakar, MLA, Villivakkam Constituency, P.Seetharaman Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Tamil Nadu and other officials of the cooperative department and institutions graced the occasion

The Minister distributed prizes for the winners of the sports and cultural events held at the institute. The programme was presided over by

The programme ended with the Vote of Thanks by Shri.R.Rajendran, Administrator Tamil Nadu State Cooperative Union. The function was attended by Faculty, Staff, Trainees and MBA Students.

Dr.P.Jagannathan, Director of the institute welcomed and honoured the guests.

Scores of cooperative societies of Tamil Nadu had filed petitions in the Madras High Court praying the court to declare the amended Tamil Nadu Cooperative Societies Act, 2012 unconstitutional.

A Division Bench of the court has upheld the amended act saying the amendment did not weaken the bye-laws of the societies nor did it offend against democratic procedures as practised by the societies.

It bears repetition that as per the amended act, in the absence of the board of directors, the general body would have the power to admit new members. The board alone had the power to do so prior to the amendment.

The court’s decision has knocked the bottom out of the cooperative societies’ wish to hang on to the arrangement existing before the amended act.

Something unusual has happened in the history of the cooperative movement in Tamil Nadu. A recruitment notification advertising 3,589 vacancies in the state cooperative societies published in a local newspaper has attracted nearly three hundred thousand applicants.

The Tamil Nadu Cooperative Union is overwhelmed by the response.

State Recruitment Bureau for cooperatives that conducts the exam has shortlisted about 7 thousand applicants for interview.

Sources say even major commercial banks do not attract so many applicants.  This shows the popularity of the cooperative sector in the state as a source of employment among the youths, add the sources.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jailalitha has announced her govt would establish a cooperative tea factory in Nanjanad spending 50 million rupees.

This is being done to buoy the tea industry in the state, she said while addressing the golden jubilee function of the Kundha Industrial Cooperative Tea Factory in Edakkad.

The chief minister claimed her govt. has already spent more than 50 million rupees on modernisation of tea units in the district.

Jaylalitha said as a result of a series of steps taken by her govt to boost the tea economy in the state, thousands of farmers belonging to the tea cooperatives have been able to increase their profits.

It may sound strange that despite “no election” for more than two decades, cooperatives are thriving in the state of Tamil Nadu. Thanks to government’s acceptance of the cooperative as a reliable model of development.

It is one of the few states in the country where the growth of the cooperative sector has been trending up. Chief Minister J. Jailalitha deserves some praise for this particular achievement.

She has just decided to provide district central cooperative banks and some primary agricultural cooperative societies with scores of crores of rupees in a bid to enable them to help farmers with immediate short term loans.

The state govt’s grant is also aimed at helping the cooperative institutions in revamping their financial system so they could provide farmers with better services.

The expansion and upgradation of milk cooperatives in Tamil Nadu is in progress. The central govt has begun investing money for the purpose.

According to sources, an amount just shy of Rs 2 crore has already been paid by the India govt.

A number of district cooperatives milk producers’ unions have got a facelift and many others  would be upgraded in the foreseeable future.

The state govt has recently urged the center to give a bankroll of several crores of rupees for the expansion of cooperative milk producers’ unions across the state.

Tamil Nadu has 17 district co-operative milk producers’ unions and 9,231 village level milk producers’ co-operative societies.

There are 4.19 lakh producers supplying milk to the co-operative societies.

The Tamil Nadu government contemplates establishing a dairy-cum-powder plant at Tiruvannamalai district at a cost of Rs 60.18 crore.

The plant would have a capacity to process two lakh litres of milk a day. The National Dairy Development Board would give most of the money needed for the project.

The state govt is also taking necessary steps to overcome a shortage of milk the state capital Chennai faces.