Addressing the concluding session of the 7th National Convention of Sahakar Bharati at the Government Polytechnic campus in Lucknow on Sunday, former Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister and MP Radha Mohan Singh said the purpose of the Amrit Mahotsav of Azadi is to realize the concept of inclusive development while remembering the glorious past of the country and this is not possible without cooperative.
“The country’s priority is to make youth and farmers self-reliant. Much work needs to be done in the cooperative sector. The Central Government has made its commitment clear by forming the Ministry of Cooperation. Cooperatives are not new to India. Cooperation is in our nature”, said the former Minister.
Sahakar Bharati will have to re-establish the tradition of cooperatives in villages. The model of self-reliant and self-supporting villages is old for India. Cooperation has become the biggest need of the country today, Singh underlined.
Singh said Cooperation and Antyodaya complement each other. Antyodaya is the goal of bringing a sense of happiness on the face of the last person in the last line of society and only Sahakar Bharti can do the work of realizing this goal.
Former Union Minister Radha Mohan Singh said that today there are more than eight lakh cooperative societies in India. It has more than 40 crore members. In this, 97 percent of rural citizens are involved. Cooperatives contribute 17 percent of agricultural production. The Narendra Modi government has made a big contribution to enriching cooperatives, he asserted.
Addressing the representatives of Sahakar Bharati, he said that the dream of Antyodaya along with Gramodaya can be realized through cooperatives in rural areas of the country. The process of loan disbursement for cooperative societies through NABARD has been simplified by the Central Government. A lot of emphases is being laid on the training of cooperatives. The Modi government has extensively expanded the cooperative training programs.
The former Union Minister said that there is a need for cultured leadership in the cooperative sector. Only Sahakar Bharati can do this work. The village, the poor, the farmer, and the youth have to be made prosperous.
It bears recall that during the 7th National Conference, Sahakar Bharati elected Dinanath Thakur as its national President and Dr. Uday Joshi as National General Secretary. Both of them were also present on the dais.
National Organization Secretary, Sanjay Pachpor thanked the workers of Uttar Pradesh for successfully organizing the 7th National Convention. The majority of leaders who had landed in Lucknow for the meeting left for Ayodhya after the event.
