Silencing NCDC MD Vasudha Mishra as well as SEWA Chairperson Mirai Chatterji rather awkwardly Union Minister Radha Mohan Singh said ” it is not so that the idea of organizing a Workshop for strengthening women cooperatives was suggested to me by others. In fact it was me who told in the last General Council meeting of NCDC that such a workshop should be organized”. The statement was direct.
Just prior to this utterance by the minister SEWA Chairperson had profusely thanked him (Minister) for listening to her request made in the last council meeting. “We raised the subject of having a workshop and the Minister was kind enough to give the go-ahead”, her words spoken just a few seconds earlier fell flat on her face in the light of the Minister’s assertion.
A day earlier, NCDC MD also had given credit to SEWA Chairperson for conceiving the idea in the first place, though
she had taken care to mention the Minister’s role in this too. “Our Minister had always felt that despite the best of intentions NCDC is not able to reach out to the needy and thus the Workshop”, MD had said.
Dropping the bomb shell Radha Mohan moved on quickly to other subjects without giving the embarrassment a chance to spread across the audience.
Radha Mohan said” I would be happy if this workshop leads to formation of a smaller group constituted by NCUI and NCDC where each issue is discussed threadbare. “In fact I want them to come up with an annual plan for developing women cooperatives in the country”, he stated.
Talking about Krishi Vigyan Kendra he said having one woman scientist in each Kendra has been made compulsory and more than 100 Kendras have a woman scientist today. They are doing a wonderful job by encouraging various kinds of activities among women such as mushroom plantation etc. Singh underlined.
Lauding woman for their sense of responsibility and service Singh emphasized on their extensive training by launching four ICMs dedicated to women alone. He also remembered Late Inamdar on the occasion and said ”we need to start a syllabus in our training course to inculcate Inamdar’s sense of service in trainees.
