The recent deregistration of more than 70 thousand co-operative societies in Maharashtra has upset the findings of a much touted book by NCUI titled “Indian Cooperative Movement- A Statistical Profile”.
Released during the Regional Assembly of ICA-AP in the presence of two Union ministers last year in Delhi, the book claimed a 20% surge in number of co-operatives. It also said Maharashtra had the highest number of co-operative societies (2.46 lakhs) in the country.
Shekhar Charegaonkar, chief of Maharashtra State Sahakari Parishad has now found that more than 70 thousand co-operative societies in the state existed only on paper.
The latest state govt survey has upset the figures arrived at by the NCUI, conceded the author of the Book Badrul Hasan.
Hasan said if the state govt survey is to be believed the overall number of cooperatives in the country would come down to 7.40 lakhs from 8.33 lakhs as calculated by us. NCUI bases its calculations on the inputS from the states and the earlier book covered figures only up to 31st March 2015, Hasan added.
In the next edition we would incorporate the latest inputs from the states, Hasan added. He was also skeptical on the number of women cooperatives in the country which is said to be 20 thousand as of now. Hasan said in the ongoing scrutiny the number is expected to come down.
Talking to Indian Cooperative Chief Executive of NCUI Mr N Satyanarayan said” the saving grace is that we had
printed a very limited number of copies at the time of ICA’s Regional Assembly. The large-scale printing of the book is being planned now; we can amend the manuscript according to the latest inputs from Maharashtra”.
Satyanarayan also said the next edition of the book would be amended after getting inputs from the District Registrars from across the states.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra State Sahakari Parishad said these fake co-op societies were being used by the politicians to put pressure on the govt. There were also used as bogus votes at the time of election. Mr Charegaonkar said the state govt conducted a state-wide survey of cooperative societies to find out the ones that are active.
“Hence, we have decided to strike at the very root-cause of the cooperative sector, which is generally criticized for lethargy, inefficiency and corruption,” Charegaonkar said.
