In a bid to reach out to remote parts of the country, NCUI has launched a campaign to ignite the co-operative movement by inviting all the stake-holders at block level and holding a convergence meeting. One such meeting at Raiganj block in Uttar Dinajpur district in West Bengal was undertaken by one of its Directors Ritesh Dey last week.
Amazed at the massive congregation of people from various departments in the meeting, Dey called Indian Cooperative to convey that a real cooperative movement is shaping up in this backwater where officials from agriculture, Animal Husbandry, dairy, fisheries and what not are working together. Lauding his team mates of the field project at Raiganj, Dey said they have put in enormous efforts to bring everyone under one banner.
Emphasizing the significance of such moves, NCUI officials said that about 200 members and prospective members of PACS and SHGs from as many as 18 Gram Panchayats participated. “This is taking co-ops to where it belongs to”, he underlined.
Elaborating, Ritesh said that 2-3 PACS are attached to each gram panchayat and each PACS have about 600-700 SHGs attached to it. We told them about how to open co-ops and even promised to help them in the same.
The program was addressed by ARCS and key officials of DCCB, District Co-op Union, Agriculture, fishery and animal husbandry department. Even a Professor of economics from the Raiganj University addressed the meeting stressing the importance of the cooperative movement for the poor and downtrodden segments of society, said Ritesh.
Officials of different departments explained to the people about various govt schemes which they can benefit from. Officials of Animal Husbandry, agriculture, fisheries and others volunteered to lend a helping hand on the occasion, noted Ritesh.
Dey said that their efforts have led to better coordination between different departments at the district level, it is these key officials who support, guide and assist in the growth and development of co-operatives at the grassroots level.
Recalling Amit Shah’s pledge, Dey said the very first thing the union Minister of cooperation said was
coordination of cooperative activities between different ministries. It is one of the important mandates of the Ministry of Cooperation and we saw the convergence of different departments in the Raiganj block.
Ritesh Dey in his speech spoke at length on the NCUI Haat launched by the apex body to help co-ops and SHGs market their products free of any charge. “We are ready to offer you a platform, please keep producing quality stuff’ exhorted Dey on the occasion.
The official release on the event read “NCUI’s Cooperative Education Field Project Raiganj Uttar Dinajpur district in West Bengal organised a block level Cooperative Awareness Program on 11 March to celebrate the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’.”
A painting competition for children was also organised to create awareness on Cooperative amongst school students. Another attraction was the exhibition of products of SHGs affiliated to PACS in the project area.
