Union Agriculture Minister Mr Radha Mohan Singh has urged the cooperatives to play a significant role in the implementation of initiatives taken by Government for the welfare of the people. This they can do by providing better services to members associated with them, he added.
The Minister said, Soil Health Card and Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana are some of such schemes which would change the life of people. He said this while inaugurating Sahakari Agricultural Mela as part of the centenary celebrations of the Amaragol Primary Agriculture Credit Cooperative Society at Amargol in Karnataka.
On the occasion Minister for Chemicals & Fertilizer, Shri Ananat Kumar President, Amargol Primary Agriculture Credit Cooperative Society, senior officials of the Karnataka Government & Government of India and delegates of various cooperative organizations, were present.
“Cooperatives are business enterprises owned and controlled by the members that they serve, decisions made in cooperatives are balanced by the pursuit of profit and the needs and aspirations of members and their communities. Cooperatives take many forms and operate in all sectors of society” said Mr Singh.
India has an unwritten history of cooperatives since the beginning of human settlement in the form of villages as village life was based on a cooperative model where everyone cooperated with everyone else in their day to day life following the principles of self-help and collective action.
“Cooperatives are a reminder to the international community that it is possible to pursue both economic viability and social responsibility” as declared by United Nations in its General Assembly during the celebration of the International Year of Cooperatives in 2012, he added.
The UN declaration highlighted the contribution of cooperatives to socio-economic development, in particular recognizing their impact on poverty reduction, employment generation and social integration. The faith of UN is “Cooperative enterprises build a better world”, he said.
Radha Mohan went on expounding the beginning of co-operative to 1935 Act to Multi-Unit Cooperative Societies Act, 1942 to the Multi State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002 to the recommendations of the Prof. Vaidyanathan Committee to strengthen rural cooperative credit structure and recent enactment of the Constitution (97th Amendment) Act, 2011.
The Minister referred to many initiatives such as providing toilets in all schools, Jan Dhan scheme , Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, launching of the Soil Health Card scheme, Swachh Bharat Mission and ‘Make in India’. He exhorted the cooperatives to provide better services to their members and be a part of govt schemes.