Kerala assembly has passed the Kerala cooperative societies (3rd amendment) bill 2013 allowing district cooperative banks to have individuals as nominal or associate members.
Former Cooperation Minister G. Sudhakaran said the amendment was part of a move by the RBI and Nabard to choke the cooperative movement in Kerala.
The govt says the new Act would push cooperative banks towards financial responsibility. However, opposition parties have pilloried the Act warning this would only expose cooperative banks to the corporate wolves.
Some members opposed to the bill went so far as to say the amendment made could only spell trouble for the state’s cooperative movement -something the RBI and Nabard had long been up to.
Terming the Opposition’s concern baseless, V.D. Satheesan said the proposed reforms would help to bring cooperative banks out of the red and avoid financial mismanagement.
It is better to keep all financial cooperatives outside the purview of RBI/NABARD and made affiliated to political parties.