National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI) is planning to voice strongly the ill-treatment being meted out to the cooperative movement in the country during the meeting of National Advisory Council meeting on cooperatives scheduled for Tuesday.
Talking to the Indian Cooperative NCUI Chief Executive Dr Dinesh said govt has no policy on cooperatives though cooperative movement is the strongest in India compared to other parts of the world.
“We have written letters to all the apex cooperative federations and sought their opinion. We have to present our views collectively”, said Dr Dinesh. NCUI has also written letters to some former Chief Executives such as Anita Manchanda, B D Sharma and Bhagawati Prasad soliciting their opinion, he added.
Cooperative offers all-pervasive network to the government with its reach encompassing 97 per cent of the country. There are about 93 thousand Primary Agricultural Cooperative Society (PACS). Schemes like Food Security as debated by Parliament could be implemented effectively through cooperatives; Dr Dinesh said pointing out that these matters would be taken up on Tuesday meeting of National Advisory Council.
Other areas of concern for us include increasing the participation of women in cooperatives. Dr Dinesh also emphasized on need of having vibrant democratic process in the decision making process of the cooperatives.
Cooperatives operate with emotional commitment. Government policies which have hitherto failed to benefit the target group would be ably implemented through PACS, added the Chief Executive, though he exhorted cooperative leaders to stem the rot of corruption which has crept inside cooperatives as well.