Top leaders from Delhi descended to Trivandrum to participate in the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of the Kerala State Co-operative Agricultural and Rural Development Bank on Wednesday. As the Apex body of the Primary Co-operative Agricultural and Rural Development Banks in the State, KSCARD Bank spearheads co-operative movement in the region.
Kerala Governor, Co-operation Minister and the state agriculture minister participated in the celebrations. The Governor said that cooperative is a means to improve the lot of poor. Cooperation Minister wanted Centre to help co-op banks tide over the crisis in the wake of demonetization.
Those who participated from outside the state included NCUI President Chandra Pal Singh Yadav, ICA Asia-Pacific Regional Director Balu Aiyer, Biscomaun Chairman Sunil Singh, NCUI Vice-President GH Amin and others.
In the beginning of its inception KSCARD Bank focused primarily on the redemption of prior debts of rural farmer. Later it switched over to the production oriented financing policy, which involves long term loans for development needs. The Bank has also diversified its activities and formulated various innovative loan schemes so as to achieve the prime objective of rural development.
The origin of KSCARD Bank can be traced back to 1931, the year in which the Land Mortgage Bank started functioning in the erstwhile Travancore State. Subsequently Land Mortgage Banks were established in Cochin and Malabar as well. With the formation of the Travancore Credit Bank, the land Mortgage Bank was merged into it. As a successor to the Travancore Credit Bank, the Kerala Co-operative Central Land Mortgage Bank was organized on October 4, 1956.
The Bank has several awards to its credit. Some of the national awards won last year included Government of India Trophy for Best All-round Performance during 2014-15, Meloth Narayanan Nambiar Memorial Trophy for Best performance in Lending during 2014-15, Punjab Chief Ministers Trophy for Best Performance in Recovery during 2014-15 and Federation’s Trophy for Best performance in Deposit Mobilisation.
(Inputs and photographs supplied by Dr Sunil Singh, Chairman Biscomaun)
