Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh strongly feels that the levers of power in cooperatives devolve from one member of the family to another denying ordinary members any say in the affairs. While he had made this observation so many times in the past, he made it a point to reiterate it on the occasion of centenary celebrations of Late Laxmanrao Inamdar-the founder of Sahakar Bharati.
Singh seemed to suggest on the occasion of the birth centenary of great cooperators a pledge to infuse sahakari (cooperative) with “sanskar”(morality) be taken by each and every cooperator of the country.
He compared Bihar and Gujarat. Cooperative is bereft of any morality in Bihar in that an attempt had once been made to sell off even Patna Railway station in the name of cooperative, Singh gloomed.
Explaining the success of the cooperative movement in Gujarat he attributed it to the dedicated cooperative leadership of the state. The sight of women either carrying milk or counting currencies is common if you pass through villages in the state, The profit is shared among members and not kept in just one family, he said underling the difference.
He also lauded the role of cooperatives in Chhattisgarh saying the central govt has little role in this.
One should focus on the training of cooperative leadership in the birth centenary of late Inamdar, the minister said. He mentioned the role of NCUI and NCCT in this. ”We have 20 ICMs and five Regional ICMs which are going to play an important role in this direction”,he assured. He said these institutions would prepare course-materials with the help of Sahakar Bharati to imbue leadership with a sense of true cooperation.