National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI), the apex organization of the Indian Cooperative Movement will be organizing 16th Indian Cooperative Congress from 25-26 June, 2013 at Delhi.
Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Hon’ble President of India will inaugurate the Congress today on 25 June, 2013 at Siri Fort Auditorium, and Shri Sharad Pawar, Union Minister of Agriculture and Food Processing Industry, Govt. of India will preside over the Congress.
The Congress will review the progress of the cooperative sector and come up with effective policy-guidelines in the wake of the emergent problems before the sector. The theme of the Congress is ‘Cooperative Enterprise Build a Better World.’ The Congress is likely to be attended by more than 2000 delegates from across the country and abroad.
Shri S.C. Jamir, Governor, Odisha, Dr. Smt. Kamla Beniwal, Governor, Gujarat, Shri Shekhar Dutt, Governor, Chattisgarh, Smt. Sheila Dikshit, Chief Minister of Delhi, Shri Nabam Tuki, Chief Minister, Arunachal Pradesh, Shri Tariq Anwar, Minister of State for Agriculture & Food Processing, Govt. of India, Shri K.V.K. Reddy, Minister for Coopn., A.P., Shri Siddeque Ahmed, Minister for Coopn., Assam, Shri J.H. Rothuama, Minister for Coopn., Mizoram, Shri Pandurang Alias Deepak Dhavalikar, Hon’ble Minister for Cooperation, Goa, Shri Satpal Sangwan, Hon’ble Minister for Cooperation, Haryana, Shri H.D.R. Lyngdoh, Hon’ble Minister for Cooperation, Meghalaya, Shri R.B. Subba, Hon’ble Minister for Cooperation, Skikkim, Dr. Manohar Lal Sharma, Hon’ble Minister for Cooperation, J&K and Ms. Dame Pauline Green, President of ICA, Mr. Li Chunsheng, President, ICA-Asia Pacific will be the Guest of Honour on the occasion.
The major highlights of the Congress will be release of a publication on success stories spanning all the cooperative sectoral areas, and also a book on Right to Information and Cooperatives. On this occasion Technical Sessions will be organised on the subject Direct Tax Code-Exemption to Cooperatives, Cooperative Credit Sector Cooperative Enterprises – Acceptable Business Model, Food Security – A Role of Cooperatives Women and Youth in Cooperatives, Emerging Cooperatives/Weaker Section, Cooperative Legislation – Recent Trends, Cooperative Education and Training to discuss strategies for the growth of cooperatives as autonomous and competitive enterprises.
Dr. Chandra Pal Singh, President, NCUI said that the Congress is the biggest image–building exercise of the cooperative sector in India. He further said that the Congress is held at a time when the cooperatives face a big challenge to compete in the market economy.
Though cooperatives are fully confident of their potentialities they must communicate their strengths as compared to other enterprises in the modern economy. He appeal that most of the delegates from the country come in the 16th Indian Cooperative Congress and make it grand successful.
There are more than 6 lakh cooperative societies in the country. The cooperatives cover 100% of the villages and 75% of the rural house-holds. The cooperatives have a strong presence in almost all the areas of socio-economic activities like agricultural credit, housing, sugar, milk, tourism, fishery, spinning, fertilisers, etc. Due to significant contribution of milk cooperatives, India is the largest producer of milk in the world. Amul, IFFCO and KRIBHCO are the biggest success stories in the cooperative sector.
