Mulayam Singh’s brother Shivpal Singh Yadav is ever in news for all the wrong reasons. After advocating “limited theft” for engineers in Uttar Pradesh, he has shifted his focus to cooperative giants like Iffco and Kribhco.

The Cooperative Minister has warned IFFCO and KRIBHCO of serious consequences if they did not supply the stipulated amount of fertilisers due to the state.

The minister stated firmly that the fertiliser companies would not be allowed to ship their goods to customers outside if they could not meet   farmers’ demands in UP.

Both IFFCO and KRIBHCO have to supply 40 percent of their production to Pradeshik Cooperative Federation ( PCF ) of the state. The PCF is the organisation that distributes this fertiliser to the cooperative societies at the district level.

UP needs 10.35 lakh MT urea for kharif season and the amount supplied by the fertiliser majors thus far is just a small bit of it.

Shivpal Yadav said if farmers continued to face a shortage of fertilisers during the time when it was badly needed the situation might assume dangerous proportions. The minister added he had appraised the center of what could   happen if fertilisers were not supplied on time.

The cost of urea is about Rs. 300 per bag but presently it is selling for more than Rs. 600. The black marketing of it has annoyed farmers.

Sources say the new govt. is determined to ensure a hassle-free distribution of fertilisers among farmers. It has issued strict instructions to authorities at various levels to ensure farmers get as much fertliser as they want.

Ajay Kamath

My name is Ajay Kamath K, and I am from Kerala. I am working in Kasaragod co-operative town bank ltd. no 970 my date of joining is 12 Feb 2009.

I want to take a long leave for the purpose of joining other company as I am a software developer and am not interested in cooperative banks. I believe co-operative banks are only for political work as they do not much education and yet they boasts of being an efficient Management.

I am fed up.I want to join Software Company of my cousin. Is there any provision for the same?

I C Naik  

Leave is part of contract of employment and it’s a privilege not a right, so the employer can deny the leave depending on the exigency of work of the employer. Best thing is to quit without wasting time. If unutilized leaves are there the rules providing for, some cash can be expected.

Payal Rai

My name is Payal Rai. My father took  87000 INR from Sahakari Awas Nirman Vitt Nigam, Uttar Pradesh Cooperative Housing Federation Ltd 1989/90. We deposited 100000 INR till the 2000.

Now my father is no more and he did not share his transaction with us. Suddenly we got auction notice from the society.

Luckily we have got receipt of deposit amount from our father side.

Sir, please suggest us how should we proceed in the matter as we have not enough experience.

I C Naik  

There has to be a demand notice from lender giving full details of amounts payable. The auction cannot be conducted without a court decree. So write to Sahakari Awas Nirman evm vitt nigam requesting for exact amount payable and how it was arrived at.

I do not think you need to worry too much about it. In the end rightfully due amount will have to be paid and I am sure it is not going to cost a fortune.

You can ask for moratorium and restructuring of payment schedule and even partial / full waiver of interest content. So handle it without getting panicky.

UP cooperative minister Shivpal Yadav says there is not enough supply of fetilisers to meet the demands of farmers in the state.

The minister has reiterated that IFFCO and KRIBHCO should be allowed to handle the job of allotting imported urea and organising an efficient distribution of fertilisers in the state as they have done in the past.  This is the only way in which the deficiency of urea in the state could be supplied, the minister added.

He has called upon the central govt. to help the state with an immediate supply of fertilisers. The UP minister has dashed off a letter to Union Minister Sharad Pawar in this connection.

According to Shivpal Yadav, about fifty percent of the total amount of fertilisers is distributed through the cooperative bodies.

IFFCO and KRIBHCO have not yet received their allocation of fertilisers. A paltry amount of 1.99 lakh MT given to them so far is much less than required to meet the demands in the state. UP needs at least 3.3 lakh MT without delay, the minister added.

The government of India has increased sugarcane price by a whopping 17 percent.  That is to say, sugar mills would pay to farmers Rs 170 a quintal for 2012-13.

The Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices had earlier recommended an increase in sugarcane price.

Sources say what with increasing production costs and a general weakening of the rural economy, the sugarcane farmers deserved a better deal.

The FRP, the minimum price that sugarcane farmers are legally guaranteed, for the ongoing marketing year stands at Rs 145 per quintal.

The FRP is the sugarcane price fixed by the Centre but there are some states like Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu which announce their own rate called state advisory price (SAP).

The SAP is higher than the FRP. In Uttar Pradesh, for example, the SAP for the current year stands at Rs 250 per quintal, compared to Centre’s FRP of Rs 145 a quintal.

Usually, the government accepts the cane price recommended by the CACP.

Sources add India has had a bumper sugarcane production in 2011-12 and has emerged as one of the leading sugar exporting countries on the global market. There is general agreement that India’s capacity to supply the world with sweetener has continuously been on an upward trend.

The new govt in Lucknow seems resolved to quicken the pace of development in the state. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has recently made several declarations including the one on labour creation on a big scale in a bid to redeem his poll promises.

Lucknow would soon send a proposal of Rs. 3.61 lakh crore to be approved by the planning commission of India for development of Uttar Pradesh in the next years.

The Yadav govt is at work bringing in a new integrated policy for cooperation and there are indications that the cooperative sector would figure prominently in its calculations.

Sources say several new sugar mills would be established in the state and the cooperative sector would be involved in running some of them.

Once again, there are allegations of corruption against officials working in the department of cooperation in Uttar Pradesh.  The government has put them under suspension.

Shivpal  Singh Yadav, Cooperative minister has charged that these officials  had committed serious irregularities during the Mayawati  government. The names of the officials have not been made public so far.

According to the minister, appropriate legal action would be taken against all the erring officials.

The new government of Akhilesh Singh Yadav and especially Shiv Pal Singh Yadav, the cooperative minister has been focusing on the cooperative sector in the state in a big way. But hope it is not a witch-hunting of those officials who were active during Mayawati’s regime.

UP Cooperative Minister Shivpal Yadav recently lamented the decline of honesty and sincerity in the cooperative sector in the State.

He told Vidhan Sabha that the cooperative sector was completely overcome with corruption and nepotism and things have come to a pretty pass. According to the Minister, 25 district cooperative banks are already tottering on the brink of collapse. He promised the new govt. would do all in its power to repair the situation.

It bears repetition that the RBI has refused to renew the license of these banks as they have miserably failed to meet the prescribed norms laid down by the apex bank.

The minister Yadav has informed that his govt. would soon establish contact with the central govt. and the RBI to solve the crisis. He savaged the previous govt. for botching things in the cooperative sector.

However, the BSP rejected the charge and accused the ruling party of misusing the cooperative institutions for its narrow gains and self-aggrandizement.

Cooperative Minister Shivpal Yadav presenting demand for grants for the cooperative dept. assured the house that the govt. would not allow the district cooperative banks to collapse as it would inflict incalculable sufferings on farmers. He underscored the importance of democratization of the cooperative sector otherwise this important sector of the economy would stand reduced to pieces.

In an ambitious plan Sahara India announced to emerge number one player in dairy production with largest number of cattle-heads, biggest amount of land bank and production of dairy products on unprecedented scale unbeatable by any one.

The company will start selling milk and milk products from 2013 and could be a serious challenger for Anand based Amul.

Sahara chief Subrato Rai says his company would be doing the largest milk business in the country. The company will start selling milk and milk products from 2013.

Sahara India would supply quality milk at a reasonable price. The company intends acquiring land in UP and MP soon.

We plan to produce 50 lakh tonnes of milk — the largest in the country,” Managing Worker and Chairman Sahara India Pariwar told reporters in Lucknow.

He said pure milk would be made available to the public from his dairy and for this 9,000 acres would be acquired near Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh besides land in Madhya Pradesh.

At his recent meeting with Nabard Chairman Prakash Bakshi in Lucknow UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav urged him to lift ban on the unlicensed district cooperative banks in the state and permit them to work as they did in the former times.

Mr Yadav told Nabard chief the interests of farmers and rural development were his govt’s major priorities and he would do his best to achieve them.

Chief Minister also urged Nabard to make funds available as recommended by the Vaidyanathan Committee to make district cooperative banks and PACs active again in the state. He also wanted Nabard to cough up the amount due to UP as per finance re-appropriation proposals.

Mr Yadav also called upon Nabard to provide at least a couple of thousands of crore to meet the crop loan disbursement target in the state.

UP chief minister told Nabard chief as per the guidelines laid down by them more than a dozen of district cooperative banks are already equipped with core banking solution and modernization of the remaining banks is on the cards. He sought additional funds from Nabard for various developmental activities in the state.

The new government in Uttar Pradesh seems determined to clean up the cooperative sector in the state.

It has put an assistant cooperative  registrar  under suspension  for his  gross irregular  activities  as MD of  UP  cooperative  rural  development bank   in  the former years.

Government sources say there are allegations that the assistant cooperative registrar in his former incarnation as MD had inflicted a huge loss on the cooperative bank.

The new UP cooperative minister has been warning of serious action against those found indulging in mismanagement of the cooperative institutions in the state.