NCUI kicks off 67th Co-op Week; Co-operators stress the power of co-ops

Inaugurating the 67th All India Cooperative Week with the main theme ‘Covid Pandemic-Atmanirbhar Bharat-Cooperatives’ organized by NCUI through a Webinar on 14th November, Kadakampally Surendran, Cooperation Minister of Kerala said that the state has effectively utilized the strengths of cooperatives to tackle the ill-effects of Covid pandemic.

He said that people-oriented policies of cooperatives helped them to provide banking and non-banking services to the needy sections of society during the difficult time of corona pandemic.

The webinar which was live-streamed on Facebook Live was widely attended by key representatives of national and state level cooperative organizations, besides cooperative academicians, researchers and officials from other organizations.

Surendran said co-op activities during covid pandemic presented a model for emulation for others. He highlighted the role played by Kerala Milk Marketing Federation, Kerala State Consumer Federation, MATSYAFED etc in this connection. He said small cooperatives came forward to help build up community kitchens.

In his Presidential address, Dr Chandra Pal Singh Yadav, President, NCUI emphasized on strengthening PACs through Atmanirbhar Bharat package. He also laid stress on popularizing success stories of the cooperative sector amongst the masses. Yadav said that NCUI has expanded its education and training programmes online during the covid pandemic.

In his welcome address, N Satya Narayana, Chief Executive, NCUI said that cooperatives in India emerged stronger during the covid pandemic. He also said that cooperatives hold a key in building up Atmanirbah Bharat as they cover more than 95 % of the villages, and the farmers have more trust in cooperatives than any other institution.

Senior co-operator Dileep Sanghani called for strengthening cooperative leadership, and also ensuring that impediments to implementation of the Constitutional Amendment are removed for democratic and professional functioning of cooperatives.

Satish Marathe, Director, RBI speaking on the occasion called for increasing the quantum of advances and loans for all economic activities. He also laid stress on the need for re-designing cooperative business models for PACs, DCCBs, CCBs, etc in the wake of stagnation in the growth of cooperative financial institutions.

R S Sodhi, MD, GCMMF said that Amul emerged as a big success story in handling pandemic crisis by providing uninterrupted services to people in crisis. He called for fruitful fusion of political and professional leadership for the success of cooperatives, citing the example of AMUL in this regard.

Balu Iyer, Regional Director, ICA-AP in his speech said that at a time when being vocal for local has become important for Atmanirbahr Bharat, he asked what can be more local than the products produced by cooperatives?

While Prof Hitesh Bhatt, Director, IRMA emphasized on strengthening leadership in cooperatives, Prof KG Suresh, Vice Chancellor, Makhanlal University emphasized on developing effective communication strategies for cooperatives.

The messages received from Hon’ble Vice President of India, the Prime Minister of India, Speaker, Lok Sabha and several other key dignitaries were read out on the occasion. Sanjay Verma, Dy Director, PR, NCUI coordinated the event.