Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah visited the headquarters of NCUI on Wednesday and interacted with the Governing Council members of the apex body. While Shah told them about the new initiatives of the ministry, he also encouraged the GC members to talk about co-op issues being faced by the cooperatives of their regions. NCUI’s GC comprises co-operators from across sectors and states.
Calling the meeting highly successful as well as satisfactory, NCUI President Dileep Sanghani said that Amitbhai heard co-operators with great patience. “Issues of NCCT also came up and both Amit Bhai and Prime Minister Narendra Modi want that the apex co-op body- NCUI should be the controlling agency for every co-op training institute in the country. New laws will ensure this”, said Sanghani confidently.
The interaction was organized in the boardroom of NCUI and lasted one and a half hours. NCUI CE Sudhir Mahajan made a PPT presentation in which he highlighted various activities undertaken by the apex body in strengthening the cooperative movement in the country.
In his introductory remarks, NCUI Chairman Dileepbhai Sanghani thanked Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah for visiting the NCUI headquarters and praised the efforts taken under his leadership to take the cooperative movement to newer heights.
Talking to the Indian Cooperative ICA AP President Dr Chandra Pal Singh Yadav expressed satisfaction with the meeting and said that what the current ministry is doing for the nation’s co-op movement is indeed laudable.
The Minister encouraged GC members to share their views. NCUI Vice President K Sivasadan Nair raised the issue of NCCT’s re-amalgamation with the NCUI. Sources quote Shah as saying that the NCCT issue will be taken up after the setting up of the co-operative university, preparations for which are on.
The Government nominee and Sahakar Bharati General Secretary Uday Joshi touched upon the issues of credit cooperative societies. He mooted the idea of making provisions for eligible credit cooperatives to convert to co-op banks. “There is also an urgent need for a voluntary exit policy for the weak banks so as to enable them to convert to credit societies”, said Joshi talking to the Indian Cooperative correspondent.
The GC member from Sikkim, Mangaljit Rai spoke on converting dairy co-ops into multi-purpose societies so they can also raise their sources of income.
Mudit Verma, another GC member from Uttar Pradesh said that NCDC does not have enough focus on urban housing. NCDC does provide a little financial support for rural housing but when it comes to urban housing, its report card is not impressive. Verma sought Ministerial intervention for tweaking the NCDC policy on the issue.
Dr Sunil Kumar Singh from Bihar lauded the Ministry for the new model laws for PACS and wanted similar initiatives for co-op banks. CEOs of DCCBs should be appointed according to the criteria laid down by the RBI and Nabard and should not be left to the whims of local govts, said Sunil.
On this occasion, Union Ministry of Cooperation Secretary Gyanesh Kumar, Amit Shah’s OSD Dr K K Tripathy, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Cooperation Alok Agrawal and others were present.
The Indian Cooperative is of the view that it was indeed a great gesture by the Minister to reach out to co-operators in a free and frank manner. It is no secret that NCUI, which used to host PMs and AMs during its AGMs in the past, had no such luck in the recent past. Its glory is being restored ever since four-time MP and a mellifluous co-operator Dileep Sanghani has taken its reins in his hands. It augurs well not only for the NCUI but also for the entire co-op movement of the country.
