On the eve of Nation Cooperative Week Mr Chandra Pal Singh, President of NCUI vowed to take cooperative movement to greater heights. In the Press Conference organized on 13 th November in Delhi he said that he would cooperate with government on certain issues but would not shy away from protesting if the movement is weakened.
Referring to Constitution amendment bill (which is likely to pass in the Parliament) Mr Singh said once it is passed, cooperatives institutions will not function at the whims of power that be. But on the issue of return of government share on book value he is ready to take the fight to street.
According to Multi State Society act, 2002, government allows societies to return share of government if they are capable and deem it fit. But according to sources Cabinet has decided to take back its share not on face value but on book value. It means share of Rs 10 becomes, say for example Rs 100.
Mr Chandra Pal said that it amounts to charging high money from the primary members. Such high prices will de motivate people from joining the cooperative movement and it is death knell for Nehru’s vision.
Other cooperative leaders such as Virendra Singh, Chairman of NCCF endorsed Singh’s view and said that he is standing shoulder to shoulder with him and would contribute to the great cause.
ICA-Asia Pacific Regional Director Mr Chan ho Choi said that one billion people are connected with cooperative movement world wide and as a recognition of this fact even UN has decided to celebrate Year 2012 as year of cooperative. Citing the presence of about 600 million cooperators in Asia alone he said that this is the most fertile land for the growth of the movement.
The function was attended by many cooperative leaders such as M L Khurana of Housing Federation B K Mishra of FISCOFED, R M Pandey of Labour federations and a host of journalists cutting across print and electronic media.
The National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI) an apex organisation of Indian Cooperative Movement celebrates and sponsors All India Cooperative Week every year from 14th to 20th November to propagate the cooperative ideology and spirit in the country.
The objective behind the week long celebrations is giving an opportunity to all the cooperative institutions in India to review their progress, problems and highlight their achievements, policies and programmes.
The commencement of cooperative week also coincides with the birthday of Late Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India.