Cooperators ensure 50 million attendees in Co-op Congress; PM to inaugurate

Top co-operators of the country led by NCUI President Dileep Sanghani and ICA AP President Dr Chandra Pal Singh addressed the media on Thursday in Delhi, claiming that more than five crore (50 million) people will participate in the Cooperative Congress to be inaugurated at Pragati Maidan by Prime Minister Narendra Modi tomorrow on Saturday.

“All the national level cooperatives have made arrangements to take the Prime Minister’s address live to the grassroots levels- at village and panchayat levels”, claimed Sanghani, who doubles as Chairman of IFFCO which alone is preparing to connect three crore people to the mega event.

Besides, the state level co-ops, national co-op federations such as Kribhco, Amul, Nafcub, Nafscob, Kheti Banks and others have huge memberships and all have worked out elaborate plans to get the event live to their members.

It bears recalling that India boasts 8.5 lakh co-ops in the country, stressed Sanghani at the press conference attended by all the major media houses including PTI and ANI-the two agencies which distribute print and electronic versions of stories respectively to those members of them who could not attend.

To showcase the strength of the cooperative sector, a host of leaders were present in the Press Conference. Besides Sanghani and Chandra Pal, those present included Nafed Chairman Bijender Singh, Nafcub President Jyotindra Mehta, Sahakar Bharati’s National General Secretary Uday Joshi, Nafcard Chairman Dollar Kotecha, NCCF Chairman Vishal Singh, NCUI GC member Mudit Verma, among others. The NCUI CE and Deputy CE were also sitting on the dais. The presser was organized in an exclusive property of the capital.

Addressing the media, NCUI President said that it is the first time that the PM would be addressing cooperators after the formation of the new ministry of cooperation. He also lauded the first Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah for launching several new initiatives in the sector and especially mentioned Shah’s effective intervention in getting RBI agree to OTS for co-op banks.

The Congress will discuss challenges facing co-ops and how to make co-ops a tool for achieving Prosperity as envisioned by the Prime Minister, said Sanghani, stating strengthening co-ops from Kargil to Kanyakumari is on the agenda and cooperators are eager to hear the Prime Minister.

ICA Asia Pacific President Dr Chandra Pal Singh Yadav informed that 25 representatives from 10 countries of Asia Pacific regions will attend the event physically while cooperators of about 34 countries will be connected online with the event. There are several sessions in which experts and govt representatives will brainstorm about formulating the future policies, stated Chandra Pal.

Earlier, Chief Executive of NCUI Sudhir Mahajan informed the media that the goal of the Co-op congress is to discuss sectoral challenges and get apprised of the best practices. He also said that the Prime minister will dedicate the first eCommerce platform developed by the NCUI for the co-op sector.

NCUI PR Head Sanjay Verma anchored the presser.