Almost echoing Chandra Pal’s words at the closing ceremony of the 61st Cooperative Week, IFFCO Managing Director Dr U S Awasthi said there is a deep-seated conspiracy to besmirch the name of cooperatives. Citing examples he said wherever cooperatives are doing well, they are giving corporates a run for their money.
Private sector has everything from television to news papers where they spread canard against cooperatives in a calculated way. We have no one except the government to protect us, said a pained Awasthi.
Referring to RBI, IFFCO MD said it does not treat cooperatives as corporates though in the constitution it is clearly mentioned that cooperative is a “body corporate”. Is the RBI above parliament, he asked.
Exposing the double standard of previous government Awasthi said ” the tax on dividend earned from foreign countries is 30 per cent in case of cooperatives while it is merely 15 percent for corporates. We approached the former Finance Minister P Chidambaram who just consigned our request to the dust bin.”
”Today IFFCO and Kribhco are hemmed in by draconian regulations whenever they try to expand their business. In the last 8 years IFFCO OMAN alone has contributed Rs 20,000 crore to the government kitty. Has any private company done so,” asked a worked-up MD.
Lastly, he exhorted the cooperative audience to adopt technology in a big way. It’s a time of technology and IFFCO has begun to connect with all the member societies through technology at its own cost, informed Mr Awasthi.
