NCUI auditorium packed with a concourse of people reverberated with a thunderous applause as soon as chief guest Union State Minister Parshottam Rupala entered the auditorium to inaugurate the 63rd Cooperative Week being observed across the country. He was being led by NCUI President Chandrapal Singh and others.
Enthused by the presence of a large number of students among the audience Minister said cooperative has always been seen as the preserve of the oldies. It is nice to see young men in the hall and I wish they got involved in the working of co-operatives in true sense, he said.
Rupala called upon cooperators in general and NCUI in particular to have a youth wing of cooperatives just as there are youth wings in political parties. Such a wing will be a great support for the cause on the one hand and provide future leadership on the other. The govt would be only too happy to help should such a suggestion be mooted by the apex body, he remarked.
In his half an hour speech, Minister touched on several issues facing co-operatives and promised to help on the 97th CAA, Nafed bail-out but he wanted co-ops to help themselves first. Quoting the case of Sahakar Bharati which has created about 30 thousand SHGs despite the lack of registration of co-ops in the state, Rupala said a way out to help the people is to be found at all cost and Sahakar Bharati has proved it in Kerala. Referring to the current crisis felt by farmers he suggested them to buy agri inputs through cheques by first depositing money into their jandhan accounts.
This is a golden chance for acceptance of the cooperative model in the world as all other “isms” (capitalism, communism etc) have failed one by one in the world, Rupala stated. Farmers of smaller holdings must cooperate among themselves to be viable. If 100 farmers pool 5 acre each imagine the result; they can bargain with every agency be it fertilizer, marketing etc, he said.
Speaking on the occasion he also said that cooperatives should participate in the PM’s campaign for cleanliness and
said sahakarita and swatchatta gel well.
Welcoming the Minister NCUI President said the co-op week is not only being celebrated by NCUI but also by lakhs of cooperatives spread across the country. I am thankful to the Minister who was busy in Kerala but he accepted our invitation and came to participate in this function.
“For the entire week, we would discuss the issues facing co-operatives. We aim to reach out to the last man in the village. Cooperatives in India are different from that of the world in the sense that they are being controlled by the members. In other countries they are arms of the govt and behave much like corporates”, Chandra Pal said in his welcome speech.
Referring to cash crunch in the sowing season NCUI President requested the Minister to intervene and help the poor farmers. He also raised the issue of cash scarcity in urban cooperative banks and credit societies and wanted ministerial intervention in the matter. Chandra Pal also wanted the govt.’s quick response in the pending case of the 97th CAA in the apex court.
Regional Director of ICA A-P Balu Aiyer said at the time of making demonetization speech, PM Modi mentioned consumer cooperatives underling the fact that cooperative is very much on the agenda of the government. Referring to global context Aiyer expressed his satisfaction that cooperative has been accepted as one of the players in achieving the UN Goals of Sustainable development till 2030. Our aim is to have 2 billion membership, 4 million enterprises and 20 percent share in the global economy by 2030, Balu said.
NCUI Chief Executive N Satyanarayan read the VIP messages received from the President to governors on the occasion. There are 49 of them and reading all is not possible, I would read just a few, he said.
While Mohan Mishra anchored the show, NCUI Vice President Bijender Singh proposed a vote of thanks.
