Neither Central Registrar Ashish Bhutani nor NCUI President Chandra Pal Singh Yadav could make it, yet the officials of NCUI aided in part by MDs of Fishcopfed and NLCF along with IFFCO’s Nirmal Kumar made a good show of launching the three month diploma programme at NCUI headquarters in Delhi on Tuesday.
The ambitious course which awards certificates at the end is being attended by many of the neighbouring countries including Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Mauritius.
There were about 100 nominations from India but the paucity of seats allowed us to have only 20 participants for the course, said V K Dubey, NCCE Director while explaining the details on the occasion of inauguration.
Dubey who is credited with energizing the NCCE under the guidance of Dr Dinesh Chief Executive of NCUI said syllabuses have been designed and redesigned umpteen times to make the course material relevant to the professional life of the participants.
Welcoming the participants from India and abroad Dr Dinesh said in societies where resources are limited compared to population, researches have proved that the cooperative model of development suits the best.
Despite being there for more than 100 years, cooperatives have failed to make a mark. The studies clearly prove that the lack of professionalization is responsible for it. This also explains why this course is so important, Dr Dinesh said addressing the participants.
Dr Dinesh also touched upon challenges emanating from changing times, latest innovations and need to discard 
knowledge no longer modern. The onus of learning lies on you as well as it is your willing participation which would matter at the end of the day. He called upon them to raise questions and connect the lessons learnt to real-life situations.
MD Fishcopfed B K Mishra said the NCCE is doing wonderful job in the field and must be accorded the status of Centre of Excellence in the field of cooperative education. It is unrivaled in the field, he added.The govt should give it fund so that it has separate hostel for foreigners and related facilities that go in the making of Centre of Excellence, he underlined.
Welcoming the guests NLCF MD R N Pandey invited the participants to visit Labour cooperative headquarters. IFFCO Joint GM Nirmal Kumar also welcomed the guests on the occasion.
NCCT Secretary Mohan Kumar Mishra said unlimited money beckons to cooperatives in the world today and only those educated and trained professionally would walk away with the cake. He exhorted participants to come to terms with changing times by adapting themselves to e-learning. There is a host of new tools which must be exploited by the sector to become numero uno in the global economy.
