Jyotindra Mehta, the cooperator from Gujarat who was catapulted into the NCUI Board on the strength of being close to BJP President Amit Shah is not happy with the quality of training programs undertaken by the apex body National Cooperative Union of India.
Talking to Indian Cooperative Mr Mehta said ”much water has flown under the bridge . We are still sticking to old modules of training and education that have failed to ignite the cooperative movement in the real sense of the word.”
”World has moved ahead and cooperatives are employing the latest techniques to catch up. My aim is to make our education and training programs world class”, he said explaining his world view on the issue.
Mehta, however conceded that his study of the issue is not yet enough as he is still new at the NCUI. “Let me study it well and I will share with you some concrete ideas, I know what we need to do but how? I am yet to figure out”, he added.
Union Agriculture and Cooperation Minister Radha Mohan Singh has also been emphasizing on improving the quality of training. He even coaxed senior officers of the NCUI into coming out of their ivory tower and go out in the field.
Training and education is the responsibility of the apex body which it carries out through its arm NCCT. It has many ICMs spread across the country as well as field projects aimed at teaching people in the ways of cooperative.
NCUI’s Government nominee Mr Jyotindra Mehta, talked of improving the quality of training but diplomatically refrained from commenting on the NCUI’s internal politics. Readers would recall that many BJP candidates lost in the election held a few months back.
Mehta was emphatic that there is no BJP or Congress issue in the apex cooperative and it is run on a non-political basis.