Cooperatives created more than 800 million jobs in recent years worldwide underscoring the fact that the challenge of employment generation could be met through cooperatives, said National Cooperative Union of India President Mr Chandra Pal Singh Yadav at the AGM of NCUI on Saturday in Delhi.
Referring to Economic Survey released by the government of India, Yadav said India is home to the largest number of youth aged below 35 years. There is an urgent need to expand cooperative activities to help them get sucked in, in the productive virtuous cycle. While the global economy has slowed down, agriculture has bucked the trend. Cooperative is the main tool to exploit maximum economic benefit, the NCUI President added.
Delegates from various parts of the country were present in the AGM. The Governing Council of the NCUI as well as special invitees were also seated at the dais. Balu Aiyer, Regional Director of ICA Asia-Pacific was also there along with Biscomaun Chairman Sunil Singh and others. The audience included several notables including National Labour Co-op Federation Chairman Sanjiv Kushalkar, Mahesh Bank Chairman Ramesh Bung and several others.
Pitching for immediate implementation of the 97th Constitutional amendment the NCUI President assailed the move by Karnataka government for going ahead with its own Karnataka Cooperative Act 2014 and thus riding roughshod over the provisions of the 97th CAA.
Referring to the past decision of the Gujarat High Court which kind of struck down the 97th CAA, Chandra Pal said the matter is pending before the Supreme Court and I urge the government of India to argue the case as strongly as possible.
Other issues he touched upon during his presidential address at the AGM included Direct Tax Code, inclusion of cooperatives in the five-years plan and financial assistance to cooperatives.
I have met the Union Minister Shri Radha Mohan with a delegation of the members from the Governing Council and we put up several issues concerning cooperative, Mr Yadav informed the General Assembly.
He hoped the headquarters of SAARC cooperatives would be set up at the NCUI in Delhi . The AGM also paid homage to the departed souls of cooperative veterans E Narayanan and Eknath Thakur.
Other speakers included Balu Aiyer who talked about Regional assembly held recently in Bali. He underlined the fact that there was a strong representation from India in Bali. ICA-AP and NCUI have a long history of collaboration, Iyer added.
B.K. Mishra, a delegate and MD of Fishcophed expressed hope that the SAARC Members association headquarters will be established at the NCUI. The contribution of government in cooperative movement had been decreasing day by day, Mishra lamented.
Kabili Iddat, a delegate from Jammu & Kashmir State cooperative union informed that about 65 people of state cooperative union have died in floods that devasted Jammu & Kashmir recently. He urged the NCUI President Chandra Pal Singh Yadav to help the Kasmiri people. He asked for contributions so a new cooperative union in the state could be set up.
