Wish to instill honesty in co-ops: Sahakar Bharati Chief

“Instilling a culture of honesty in the working of cooperatives and among cooperators is our goal; we are here to establish a culture of transparency and fair play”, said the national President of Sahakar Bharati Jyotindra Mehta while addressing the Delhi State Conference of Sahakar Bharati.

The Conference took place in the NDMC auditorium in Delhi on Sunday. Sahakar Bharati’s President Jyotindra Mehta who was preoccupied with the Nafcub AGM in the first half of the day rushed to the venue after most of the guests had arrived. Those present included Senior RSS leader Bajarag Lal, Additional Secretary in the govt of India Mrs Upama Srivastava, Food-processing expert Subodh Jindal and several Sahakar Bharati officials.

Addressing the gathering Jyotindra Mehta said cooperatives were behind the two major agricultural revolutions that have taken place in the country. Cooperatives like IFFCO, Kribhco and credit co-ops worked as a spur to Green Revolution and Amul to White Revolution, he underlined.

Remembering the founder of Sahakar Bharati Late Laxmanrao Inamdar Mehta said it was at his behest that the old slogan of Bina sahkar nahi uddhar( there will be no upliftment without cooperative) was expanded to include bina sanskar nahi sahkar( Co-operative cannot succeed without a culture of transparency and honesty).

“If Ambani does anything with his company he can do so but Jyotindra Mehta cannot afford to do any wrong with his cooperative as he is an elected person; and have just one single vote”, Mehta said underlining the basic difference between a company and a cooperative. In a company one has voting rights according to the size of his share but in cooperatives no matter how large is your share you have just one vote, he stated.

Mehta also quoted the example of Adipur-a suburb in the Gandhidham district of Gujarat and said the place was transformed with the power innate in the cooperative model of business. Wherever there is exploitation cooperative has a role to play, Mehta said underlining its role in housing, dairies, fisheries, etc.

Mrs Upama Srivastava who has recently joined in the cooperative division in the Ministry seems to have acquired fair knowledge of cooperatives in a short span of time. “I did not know about Sahakar Bharati but I knew about cooperatives beforehand”, she said. She was visibly impressed by the slogan bina sanskar nahi sahakar and said cooperatives must follow this principle.

Whichever cooperatives have made a mark- be it Amul or IFFCO-they have done so because they have been conducting themselves on sound moral principles, Mrs Srivastava underlined. It is the most flexible model to face any economic challenges, she said extolling virtues of cooperatives.

She also gave detailed information about the Inamdar Centenary celebrations slated for September 21 in Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi and invited the assembled guests to participate in the show.

Earlier, in the first half of the day elections of the Sahakar Bharati officials took place in which Mr Sunil Gupta was made Delhi Pradesh Sahakar Bharati President replacing Laxmi Gupta. The change of the guard was not painless, however as Mr Ravi Karkaria-one of the karyakarta expected to be made President. He was disappointed and said “I have served RSS for 52 years and Sahakar Bharati for the last 5 years. Karkaria went silent mid-way of his speech, perhaps growing conscious of the fact that in RSS there is a culture of selfless service without any lust for power or pelf.

The state conference was supposed to be graced by two ministers- Radha Mohan Singh and JP Naddha but both could not make it. The highest govt functionary who could attend the show was Additional Secretary Mrs Upama Srivastava.