An online ICA AP Regional Board meeting took place on Tuesday which was attended, among others, by NCUI President Dr Chandrapal Singh Yadav. Yadav who is the Vice President of the ICA AP, participated in the meeting from Jhansi.
The Chief Executive NCUI N Satyanarayana also joined the meeting from Delhi, according to a press release sent by NCUI. Others who participated included ICA AP Chairman Li Chunsheng, RD Balu Iyer, Keshab Badal from Nepal and Nandini Azad from India. There were participation from all the member countries, read a note sent by NCUI.
President NCUI Chandra Pal Singh Yadav made a scintillating presentation on the response of Indian cooperatives to Covid 19 in the Board meeting. He revealed that co-ops in Indian have contributed 6 million USD so far.
Giving updates Yadav said monetary contribution by cooperatives to various Relief Funds is quite high. It is estimated that more than 6 million USD have been contributed by the different Cooperative organisations and its employees in the ‘PM CARES Fund’, Yadav underlined.
In addition, Cooperatives, Co-operators and Employees have been donating generously towards the ‘Chief Ministers’ Relief Funds’ in order to help the state (provincial] governments to fight against the coronavirus pandemic, he stressed.
Chandrapal said Indian cooperatives have been active in creating awareness among the members through activities like educating the people about the importance of social distancing, sanitization, maintaining a healthy diet and prevention through covering face by masks etc.
Cooperative Banks have been encouraging the customers to use digital platforms to avoid social contact, NCUI President informed. Referring to the ULCCS initiative for the Kerala govt, Yadav said that one of the Cooperatives has also developed a communication app for the local Government.
Chandrapal said Cooperatives are in the forefront supplying and distributing essential commodities at the doorsteps of households and also extending help to the needy people by offering food, money and other means of support. Many Co-operators and Cooperative Institutions donated Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Kits to the medical fraternity, he stated.
On the role of Dairy Cooperatives in Covid times, Yadav said they have ensured there is no shortage of milk in the market.
All plants of Fertilizer Cooperatives remain fully operational to ensure farmers of the country face no shortage of fertilizer and they are supplying fertilizer to farmers at their doorstep, he stated.
As a policy support to the Cooperative Sector by the Government, the Credit Coops, Agri Coops, Fishers Coop are allowed to function normally by taking all precautionary measures. As financial support, Special Liquidity Facility (SLF) has been announced by the Central Bank of the country to refinance the Cooperative Banks, he said.
A stimulus package of Rs 20 lakh crore (approximately 265 billion US $) which is about 10% of our GDP has been recently announced by the Government of India to work on 5 Pillars (Economy, Infrastructure, System, Demography and Demand) for ‘Self-Reliant India”. With its wide network, Cooperatives will play an important role to rebuild the nation and the economy, he concluded.
