Unassuming and simple; a man with enormous patience to listen to a large number of visitors without letting them know that his mind is simultaneously working on a number of issues- that is Shyam Jaju the BJP man drafted in to strengthen the cooperative movement in the country. Jaju is both mild and fiery. In an interview with Indian Cooperative, Jaju blamed Congress for the sorry state of affairs in the cooperative movement but vowed a course correction for the better.
Excerpts
Indian Cooperative: How do you rate the cooperative movement in the country?
Shyam Jaju: It has a pretty important role in the country’s economy; it is strong in Gujarat , Maharashtra and south India but weak in north India.
Indian Cooperative: Why is it so in your view?
Shyam Jaju: Because of the wrong policies followed by the Congress govt. Cooperative for congress is a political turf but BJP does not think in terms of politics when it comes to cooperative. We believe “bina sanskar nahi sahakar”( Cooperation is not possible without matching moral norms )
Indian Cooperative: But how is BJP different from Congress as far as cooperative is concerned?
Shyam Jaju: See, the difference is clear. We have asked each of our MLAs across the nation to dedicate themselves to some social work and cooperative is one such work. We treat cooperative as a social work not as an area of politics.
Indian Cooperative: But even the BJP govt has not heeded the concern of the sector which demands exemption from Income tax?
Shyam Jaju: I agree that cooperative does not aim to earn profit though some of the bigger cooperatives do earn money. We should indeed try to involve such bigger cooperatives into some kind of social work as corporate do under CSR. And coming to income tax I must say that we need to consider the issue sympathetically. I promise, I will raise the matter with the concerned authorities.
Indian Cooperative: What is your take on the recent RBI recommendation on converting UCBs into commercial entities should they choose to grow?
Shyam Jaju: Urban cooperative banks are doing a wonderful job operating within their norms. And it is also true that they cannot invest in infrastructure projects and some other hard core businesses. We need to sit down together and work out some solution. My sympathies are with the urban cooperative bank movement.
Indian Cooperative: But scores of such banks are punished by RBI for not adhering to its norms quite frequently?
Shyam Jaju: Negative things quickly make front page news. I agree there are some black sheep and we need to be stern with them but painting all of them with the same brush is not justified.