The minutes of the recently held meeting of the Cooperative Education Fund (CEF) committee have been prepared and they aim to boost cooperative training and education across states.
The committee approved proposals from Fishcopfed and NCUI to conduct a study on business growth during the ‘Amrit Kaal’ period, the minutes reveal. Furthermore, Vamnicom and NCUI have been asked to prepare a training plan for MSCS in consultation with the subcommittee, with funding to be provided from the CEF.
It bears recall that chaired by Cooperation Secretary Ashish Bhutani, the meeting was attended by key figures, including Pankaj Kumar Bansal, Additional Secretary, MoC; Anand Kumar Jha, Joint Secretary, CRCS; Dr. U.S. Awasthi, Managing Director of IFFCO; Sudhir Mahajan, CE of NCUI, Dr. Hema Yadav, Director of VAMNICOM and Mukesh Dave, Managing Director of NCEL.
The proposal to conduct 10 batches of training courses in one year was approved. NCUI is to ensure compliance with the observations from the Office of the CRCS in implementing this course and coordinate accordingly.
The financial assistance for a pilot project on the new Cooperative Education and Training scheme was approved. Pilot projects may be conducted by NCCT, NCDFI, LINAC, and NCUI in the sectors of PACS, fisheries, dairy, and other remaining sectors, respectively. However, the cost of training is to be restricted to Rs. 120 per participant by all four implementing agencies.
There was good news for the labour cooperative movement as well as the proposal from the apex body of labour cooperatives, NLCF, was also approved. This proposal includes financial assistance for organizing national seminars and six training programs.
The revised proposal from NCDC for financial assistance to appoint Cooperative Interns in all DCCBs and SCBs was also approved.
However, the committee did not approve several proposals. The financial assistance proposal from Rajasthan State Cooperative Bank for training PACS was declined. Similarly, the proposal from Ente Bhoomi Trust for the empowerment of rural cooperatives in Kerala and Uttarakhand was not approved.
The financial assistance proposal from NAFCARD, the apex body of ARDBs, for various training programs, visits, conferences, awareness programs, and the publication of literature was also not approved.
The financial assistance proposal from the National Council for Cooperative Training (NCCT) was partially approved, with Rs 25 lakh allocated for scholarships for weaker cooperatives.
The proposal for financial assistance to COBI for educational and training activities has been put on hold, and the proposal from Gujarat State Women’s Sewa Cooperative Federation was not approved.