Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar did not pull any punches in his criticism of the cooperative sector in India. He called for reorganization of cooperatives as independent professional organizations so that they could play their legitimate role in achieving the goal of inclusive economic development in the country.
In his had hitting speech at the international cooperatives conference organized by cooperative giant IFFCO , Pawar said the ordinary people are disillusioned with the cooperative sector and it is high time the cooperatives cleaned up their act.
According to Pawar, there is no alternative to good and efficacious governance and the lack of honesty and efficiency could easily ruin the cooperative sector.
Pawar added India’s cooperative movement is big with a network of lakhs of units and about 25 crore people involved in this institutional network. The cooperatives are at work in various fields exercising their influence on the country’s economic growth. Their contribution in the field of agriculture is widely acknowledged.
The minister showered an unqualified praise on IFFCO for its important role in promoting the growth of cooperative institutions across the country.
Pawar, among other things, described the landmark constitutional amendment making right to form a cooperative society a fundamental right, amendment of the multi-state cooperative societies act and formulation of a national policy on cooperatives as steps that would give a fillip to the cooperative movement in India.