Bereft of their own independent economic activities, there are few cooperative unions that could carry on without dependence on the financial support from state governments but Uttarakhand State Cooperative Federation (UCF) is one such pleasant exception.
In an exclusive interview Uttarakhand State Cooperative Federation (UCF) chairman and a veteran cooperative leader Mr Pramod Thakur said “formed in July 2002 with a share capital of Rs 12,000 the UCF has in the last fiscal 2014-2015 earned a net profit of Rs 11 Crore. It is also giving 20 percent dividend to member societies”, he said.
UCF is supplying Ayurvedic medicine to the government hospitals all over India as it has its own manufacturing drug units namely Cooperative drug factory in Ranikhet (Almora) and Uttarakhand Medicines & Pharmaceuticals in Halduchaur, Haldwani. We will soon launch two other Ayurvedic units at Dheradhun and Haridwar, Pramod added.
Lauding the state Chief Minister for having faith in the inherent strength of cooperative movement Pramod said “Chief Minister Harish Rawat is supporting the cooperative movement in the state and whenever we want any kind of support from him he never says ‘no’ to us”, Singh added.
In the same breath UCF Chairman praised IFFCO and said “special thanks are due to Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative for paying 6 crore rupees in the form of dividend to the UCF every year.” Mr Thakur is a on the Board of IFFCO.
The Uttarakhand State Cooperative Federation is distributing Chemical Fertilizer, Bio-fertilizer, certified seeds & pesticides to farmers through PACS in the state, Thakur told Indian cooperative correspondent.
The UCF is also providing Insurance to the farmers through ICICI Prudential life Insurance and IFFCO-TOKIO Insurance Company. Singh urged the government to give security to the cooperative sector, so that these societies will not be defaulters.
Pramod concluded by saying” since Uttarakhand has a population of 85 lakh and only 8 lakh people are associated with the cooperative sector; there is tremendous scope for the sector in the state.”