A piece of news that the lending character of NCDC is undergoing a fundamental transformation has unnerved co-operators, some of whom have approached the govt to dissuade it from the move fraught with dangerous implications for the co-operative movement in the country. The matter relates to allowing the private sector to avail NCDC loans as well.
Though nowhere in the govt declarations so far, the Indian Cooperative learnt that a group of officers of the Union Agriculture Ministry has mooted the idea of expanding the client base of the only lender to co-operatives, which is NCDC to the private sector.
If private sectors are allowed to take loans from NCDC, there would be little left for the cooperative bodies, said many co-operators reacting to the development. There are any number of banks and financial institutions from which the private sector does take loans why dilute NCDC’s focus for co-ops, they asked.
Leading the protest against any bid to dilute the cooperative character of NCDC is Sahakar Bharati which has written a letter not only to the govt but also to all the state co-operative federations across the country to prepare to rise in protest, should the govt bring about any such changes.
“We have drafted a letter opposing such a move; the letter has already been delivered to the honourable union minister Narendra Singh Tomar”, said Shakar Bharati senior leader Satish Marathe. There is a need for all to come on a platform on the issue, he added giving a clarion call to oppose the move.
It bears recall that NCDC has been at the forefront of strengthening the cooperative movement in the country not only by funding co-op projects but also by hand-holding the weak cooperatives to come up.
Lauding the current MD of NCDC Sundeep Nayak for his proactive move to braodbase NCDC by including training and encouraging the cooperative2cooperative(C2C) business model, Sahakar Bharati leaders said the all these efforts may disappear once the private sector enters the scene.
It bears recall that NCDC organized an international cooperative trade fair last year in Pragati Maidan in Delhi, in which several countries participated. The novel idea of C2C business model got a boost by the fair, experts said.
Even in the lockdown phase, NCDC has been conducting training of co-operators through digital means with an aim to create a robust co-operative movement at the grassroots level.
Indian Cooperative has reliably learnt that the proposal of including the private sector in the list of its clients has not been mooted by the NCDC itself. But since it is operating within the Union Ministry there is little it can do in the matter.
There is a fear that some over enthusiastic babus of the Ministry with little faith in the co-op model may be conspiring to kill the only co-op lending institution in the county. There is a need indeed for the entire co-op sector to rise in protest together, opine many co-operators.