Radha Mohan Singh, Union Minister for Agriculture speaking on the occasion of Valedictory Function of 61st All India Cooperative Week celebrations today said that cooperative model is the best for solving the problems of unemployment, hunger and social inequalities. "The development of villages can be done only through cooperatives", he said. The Valedictory Function organised by National Cooperative Union of India concluded today with the theme "Cooperative Model for Sustainable and Inclusive Growth".Radha Mohan Singh assured the cooperative representatives that the Government is committed to cooperative development. "The cooperative sector should not have any doubt about this", he said. He further said that keeping due importance of cooperatives the government will bring Multi-State Cooperative Societies Amendment Bill 2014 so that cooperatives function as autonomous and professional bodies.
He assured the cooperative leaders that they would be consulted on this issue as their vast experience would be useful in this regard. Radha Mohan Singh also emphasized on the need for changes in the election process of cooperatives so fair elections are ensured, and reservation is made for SC/ST and women in the Board of Cooperatives. Emphasizing on the role of HRD in cooperatives, he said that cooperative education and training in very important for the success of cooperatives. In this regard, he appreciated the work of National Council of Cooperative Training and various cooperative education field projects. He said that the Government has sanctioned budget of Rs. 118.08 crores for cooperative education and training in the 12th Year Plan. Shri Singh also emphasized on the need to make cooperative education practical, based on field realities, and not theoretical, for which the facilities in the cooperative sector are inadequate. He urged on the need to imbibe modern technologies in the cooperative sector to face challenges of MNCs. Singh also pointed out that many handloom and powerloom cooperatives in the country are on the verge of closure. He informed that in order to revitalize this sector, the Government has decided to operate various training programmers so that large number of artisans are benefited from this programme.
Singh said that India being a young nation, the youth power is not utilized by any sector, including cooperatives. He emphasized in the need for a separate subject on cooperatives in the schools, colleges ad universities along with other subjects like - IT, computers, social work, etc. He also emphasized on the need for non active involvement of women in cooperatives, based on the Amul Model, where women are very active. He also said that through cooperative movement nation has immensely progressed, but many malpractices have crept in, like cases of corruption, which are more in North India, where leaders uses cooperatives as instruments for their vested interests. As a result, the people started taking loans from cooperatives as donations. He pointed out that in order to revitalize 23 DCCBs, the Govt. has come up with a package of 23 crores 75 lakhs for 16 DCCBs in UP. Earlier, Dr. Chandra Pal Singh Yadav, President, NCUI said that farmers of the country depend on fertiliser of IFFCO and KRIBHCO, which are playing important role in economic development of the country. He felt that the challenges from MNCs. can best be tackled by the cooperatives.