NCP team in Ahmedabad; top co-operators contribute to discussions

The Regional Workshop on National Cooperation Policy 2023 for the West Zone was organized at Gujarat State Cooperative Bank at Ahmedabad, Gujarat by National Cooperation Policy Secretariat, VAMNICOM on 22nd November 2023 in hybrid mode. The workshop was hosted by URICM Gandhinagar.

The workshop was inaugurated by Suresh Prabhu, Chairman, National Cooperation Policy Committee. Prabhu in his address reiterated that the policy will provide a basis to strengthen the cooperative movement. He also highlighted the contributions of AMUL & NDDB in the development of the cooperative dairy sector in the country.

Prabhu applauded the several initiatives taken by the Ministry of Cooperation, Govt of India such as computerization of PACs, Model bye-laws for multi service centres and convergence of schemes which will lead the vision ‘Sahakar se Samridhi ‘ to seeing the light of day. He said the ministry has set the growth trajectory for the sector in the years to come and has brought new energy in the sector.

The workshop was attended by about 200 participants which included many co-operators turned politicians such as Shankar Chaudhary, Speaker, Gujarat Legislative Assembly & Jetha Bharwad Deputy Speaker. Prominent co-operators included Dileep Sanghani, G H Amin, Jyotindra Mehta and Ajay Patel. Meenesh Shah, Chairman of NDDB and K N Shah, (IAS) RCS, Gujarat State also took part in the meeting.

The other delegates who participated in the workshop were officials from Ministry of Cooperation and officials from Registrar Cooperative Societies of Gujarat & Chairman, Board Members & Chief Executive Officers of State Cooperative Federations, Banks, UCBs, DCCBs, Dairy Unions, APMC, Representatives of Women Cooperatives, West Zone.

Dr Hema Yadav, Director, VAMNICOM presented the salient points of the policy and the key recommendations such as Strengthening and Deepening Cooperative Movement, Legal Framework & Promoting Level Playing Field for Cooperatives, Credit Structure & Financing of Cooperatives and Collectives, Infrastructure and Technology Adoption, Governance and Networks of Sector Organizations, Education, Training, Research and Extension Services,  Membership & Social Inclusion and Promotion of Vibrancy in the Sector and the Sector Enterprises.

Dileep Sanghani, expressed his views on strengthening and deepening cooperatives through enabling and conducive environment for growth of the cooperative sector. Sanghani highlighted the initiatives taken by NCUI to extend handholding support for enhancing the cooperative business enterprises.

G H Amin presented the present status of cooperative education and training from National to the Village level and the need for strengthening the cooperative training institutions across the country as cooperative training and education will play an important role in implementation of policy inclusions.

Jyotindra Mehta underlined the importance of national level umbrella entities for rural and urban cooperative banks to keep pace with technology adoption even by unit and small UCBs. He emphasised on the importance of the national Umbrella Brand and said it will facilitate the tracking of products and services offered.

Ajaybhai Patel highlighted the importance of National Cooperation Policy for sustainable growth of cooperatives in the country and stated the example of Gujarat State Cooperative Bank in strengthening the cooperative banking sector through umbrella technology across Gujarat.

The stakeholders’ representatives, the APMC, Cooperative Sugar sector also expressed their views and discussed the challenges to be addressed in the cooperation policy. Dr Meenesh Shah stressed on leveraging exports in cooperatives.

The workshop concluded with important takeaways on various sectors of cooperatives and expectations for inclusion of sectoral issues in the policy domain.