Vaikunth Mehta National Institute of Cooperative Management, in collaboration with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Govt. of India, organized a three-day National Conference on “Corporate Governance and Sustainable competitiveness in Agricultural Collectives (Cooperatives and farmer Producers’ Organizations)” virtually.
The objective of the conference was to strengthen policy coherence by having discussions with senior officials of respective organizations involved in making India’s cooperative movement competitive and sustainable, claims a press release from the Vamnicom.
The Chief Convener of the conference Dr Hema Yadav opened the event. The prominent people who took part in the discussions that followed were Smt. Nandita Mishra (IES), Economic Advisor, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India, by Dr. Rajagopal, Professor, EGADE Business School, Mexico City, and the Chief Guest, Devendra Kumar Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation, Government of India.
Speaking on the occasion, Smt. Nandita Mishra (IES) highlighted the need for transformational leadership and wealth creation in the cooperative system and spoke about numerous challenges faced, in the form of poor access to inputs, finances, and market linkages.
In his remarks as the chief guest, Devendra Kumar Singh emphasized that cooperatives in India have begun to conceptualize new business strategies. Strengthening the cooperative sector is to bring prosperity through the cooperative model and to develop as a new economic model for the growth of the country.
Delivering his keynote address, Dr Rajagopal talked about inclusivity among stakeholders by creating value among them. He shared his experiences of the cooperative ecosystem in countries like Japan, Colombia, Israel, etc. His speech also highlighted the importance of triad structure, design to society, design to market, and design to Value.
Later the conference held discussions chaired by Dr. K. K. Tripathy (IES), OSD to the Minister of Cooperation, and Tarun Bhargava, Joint General Manager, IFFCO. The speakers were. Bhima Subramanyam, MD, NAFSCOB, HP Rathod, Head, Cooperative Services, GCMMF, Smt. Chetna Sinha, Chairman, Mann Deshi Foundation, and Binod Anand, Secretary-General, Confederation of NGO of Rural India.
Dr. K. K. Tripathy and Tarun Bhargava, as the chair and co-chair, focused on effective leadership and on the business development plan for collectives to engage in profitable market-oriented production which is sustainable and promotes partnerships and market linkages with other value chain systems. They further spoke about transformational leadership of the board of directors and management of competitive enterprises with competitive business strategies.
Scores of panel discussions were held during the three-day event. Leading men and women who hailed from different sectors of the cooperative movement took part in the discussions. All participants underlined the crucial role of cooperatives in the development of the country’s economy.
A total of 300+ participants including the Board Members and Key Functionaries of Cooperatives & FPOs, Key stakeholders, Academicians, Practitioners, Faculty, and Researchers participated in the panel discussions.
