IFFCO Sahakarita Ratna Award and IFFCO Sahakarita Bandhu Award were bestowed on Jyotindrabhai Mehta, veteran cooperator from Gujarat and President of Sahakar Bharati and Ramesh Vaidya, formidable cooperator from Karnataka respectively on the occasion of the IFFCO Golden Jubilee celebrations in Kalol, Gujarat on Friday.
Both of them profusely thanked IFFCO for the recognition. A cheque of Rs 11 lakh was presented to each along with shawls and shields, among other things.
Overcome with feelings, President of Sahakar Bharti Jyotindra Mehta awardee thanked IFFCO and said ”, I am not working for awards but just giving my humble unrelenting services to the cooperative movement of the country.
Mild mannered and soft spoken Mehta is a committed cooperative soldier and is popularly known as Mamaji in the town of Rajkot-a hub of the cooperative movement. He also headed the local UCB Rajkot Nagraik Sahakari Bank.
Sahakar Bharati has been working for years to create a network of cooperatives and cooperators.”I would like to appeal to all the cooperators to rise above narrow considerations and work for the success of the movement”, he said to this correspondent.
Ramesh Vaidya, a cooperator from Karnataka another awardee has played an important role in improving the lives
of farmers especially sugarcane growers. He thanked IFFCO especially Managing Director Dr U S Awasthi for honoring him with this prestigious award.
Vadiya has also been associated with Sahakar Bharati.
Incidently, IFFCO has so far bestowed 32 Sahakarita Ratna and 23 Sahakarita Bandhu Awards on eminent cooperators.
Readers would recall that IFFCO generally offers its awards on the occasion of the Jawahar Lal Nehru Memorial IFFCO Lecture during the All India Cooperative Week in November.
The IFFCO Sahakarita Ratna & the Sahakarita Bandhu Awards are conferred on individual eminent cooperators who have rendered selfless service in the furtherance and development of the cooperative movement.
