By Rohit Gupta
Accompanied by the UCF Chairman, Uttarakhand Cooperative Minister Dhan Singh Rawat came calling to the IFFCO headquarters ostensibly to learn the tricks of organic farming but actually to earn a place for his disciple Ghanshyam Nautiyal on the IFFCO Board, say Nautiyal’s detractors.
“It is a brazen attempt to drive Pramod out and occupy his place on the IFFCO Board but that would not be possible”, said a sympathizer of Pramod. “Nautiyal can at best be a delegate”, he said.
It is not so that the UCF Chairman becomes an IFFCO Board member automatically and even Pramod could get there on the strength of winning elections, he underlined.
The Minister, however denied this when Indian Cooperative confronted him on the issue. “I went to meet IFFCO Managing Director Dr U S Awasthi in the latter’s office to discuss cooperative affairs in the hill state“, he said.
“I had gone to Delhi last week to attend the 65th Meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education and incidentally met IFFCO MD”, he added.
Talking to Indian Cooperative about his meeting, Rawat said he urged the MD to revise the rate of urea because it has not been revised for the state of Uttrakhand for several years.
”The other important issue that I raised before the MD was state’s desire to foray into organic farming in a big way. As IFFCO is also shifting its focus in this direction I wanted to have a word with the MD on the issue. In fact I sought IFFCO’s support in this context, said Rawat while emphasizing Uttrakhand’s resolution to go for organic farming. The meeting lasted about 20 minutes, Rawat added.
It bears recall that last year IFFCO had announced about setting up of a JV with the Sikkim Government to enter the organic farming sector. IFFCO has also announced that it will neither invest nor expand any more in chemical fertilizer, a declaration which has caught everybody unawares.
IFFCO MD Dr Awasthi also shared details of his meeting with the minister on Social Media. He wrote “met Dr. Dhan Singh Rawat, Cooperative Minister Of #Uttarakhand at #IFFCO Sadan. Welcomed him & felicitated for #50yearsofIFFCO. Discussed various matters related to growth & development of cooperatives in hills in #Uttarakhand”.
The Uttrakhand cooperative minister Rawat is active doing all kinds of things to promote the cooperative sector in his state. He recently visited successful cooperatives across seven states in the country to gain an idea of how to replicate their examples in Uttrakhand.
Dismissing Minister’s words, Nautiyal’s detractors, however say that he is desperately trying to be on the board of IFFCO but his effort will not bear fruit without IFFCO MD Awasthi’s support. “This and not the co-op stuff was the reason behind the Minister’s visit to the IFFCO headquarters”, they assert.
