Dr Nandini Azad President of the Indian Cooperative Network for Women met the Governor of Telangana and former BJP president of Tamil Nadu, Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan, after completing a massive co-op contact campaign undertaken in several southern states in December.
Dr Azad covered more than 2000 kilometres and held several meetings in Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mysore, Channapatna, Dindigul in the last month. Her aim was to encourage as well as monitor women co-operators spread in these states. “Encouraging them to take on challenges in the current difficult economic scenario is important”, said Nandini.
Dr Azad briefed the Governor about the activities undertaken by ICNW to uplift the lot of poor women in these states. She briefed her on the vast network of women cooperatives in South India and their activities currently going on in Telangana, Andhra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
She also invited the Governor to be the Chief Guest in a mass meeting planned to be held in February in Chennai to commemorate the 88th Birth Anniversary of legendary cooperator Dr Jaya Arunachalam. More than 5000 people are expected to participate in the event.
In her roadshow Dr Azad extensively addressed women cooperators from deep South from Madurai to Maharashtra border in Karnataka, Bidar, claimed a mail sent from ICNF.
Talking about the successful saga of WWF, Dr Nandini Azad told the Governor that the WWF was set up in 1981, in the aftermath of floods which devastated the country. Today it enables millions of women of low incomes of the southern states of India to learn about the cooperative model as well as support each other and compensate for the lack of social security in India.
The loans offered by WWF enable women to cover their debt and grow their enterprises. The cooperative also addresses the issue of caste, bringing together women of different castes, she briefed the Governor.
