Revamp laws governing cooperative sector in view of the changed techno-economic scenario: Vice President 

NP NEWS 24 ONLINE – Address challenges such as politicization of cooperatives & bureaucratic control of cooperatives; Take steps to make agriculture viable; Cooperative sector must play key role in strengthening rural economy; Delivers Laxmanrao Inamdar Memorial Lecture on Cooperatives

The Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu has called for a revamp of laws governing cooperative sector in the context of changed techno-economic so that it becomes viable and vibrant enterprises.

 He was delivering the Laxmanrao Inamdar Memorial Lecture on Cooperatives, organized by Sahakar Bharati, in Mumbai, today. The Governor of Maharashtra, Shri Ch. Vidya Sagar Rao, the Minister for Higher and Technical Education of Maharashtra, Shri. Vinod Tawde and other dignitaries were present on the occasion

The Vice President said that lack of awareness, vagaries of monsoon, lack of access to market and storage facilities is making agriculture un-viable there by forcing people to migrate from rural areas to urban areas.

The Vice President called up on the cooperative sector to play key role in strengthening rural economy and also help the farmers raise their income. To achieve this, he asked Research institutions and government agencies to support Cooperatives in their efforts to educate farmers and encourage them diversify into allied vocations like horticulture, fishery, bee-keeping, rural logistics and transportation, food processing etc to generate additional income.

The Vice President also asked for an increased focus and attention of authorities, politicians, media, and scientists to make united efforts to improve the lives of people dependent of farming and Agriculture.

Shri Naidu said that Cooperatives can help in reducing the cost of production by sensitizing farmers about judicious use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, by encouraging and training farmers in the use of organic manure and efficient use of water and by collective procurement of capital-intensive equipments and inputs.

The Vice President said that even though India became self-sufficient in food grain production, agriculture sector suffers from structural constraints. He called up on Cooperative societies to become important conduit between Government and the farmers to deliver the benefits of government schemes, such Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna, Krishi Sinchayi Yojna, Jan Dhan, e-NAM, MUDRA Yojna, Minimum Support Price and others to farmers.

The Vice President sought for coordinated efforts of Cooperatives, Agriculture Research Institutions, Kisan Vikas Kendras and farmers’ groups in line with government’s resolve to double the farmer’s income by 2022.

The Vice President said that Indian cooperative movement has a great history and has made tremendous progress in several sectors of the Indian economy and said that with a network of over 8.50 lakh cooperatives with membership of well over 25 crores have operations across the spectrum made it the biggest in the world. He, however, added that the cooperative sector was facing structural challenges in recent past and stressed the need to address challenges faced by the sector such as politicization of cooperatives and bureaucratic control, low level of participation by women and youth.

Shri Naidu said that Cooperative sector has proven to be a successful model world over and countries like Singapore, Denmark, Scandinavian countries, Japan and Switzerland have seen success.  He has also stressed the need to learn from best practices and see if we can adopt some best practices in fields such as healthcare, retail, Food Production and others.

Quoting the reach of the sector in different countries, the Vice President said that 55 per cent of the retail market in Singapore and 36 per cent in Denmark were being held by cooperatives. He further said that Consumer cooperatives have prominent presence in Scandinavian countries, Japan and Switzerland and countries like Japan, Germany, France and Netherlands, provide affordable health care to common people based on cooperative model. We must learn from them and try to emulate such models here in India for the betterment of common man, he added.

India’s cooperative movement is the biggest movement in the world and has made tremendous progress in several sectors of the Indian economy. I am told that 75 percent of rural households have been covered through a network of over 8.50 lakh cooperatives with membership of well over 25 crores.

Thecooperatives command significant share in cotton, fertilizer and sugar processing and production in the country.

The iconic success of Amul has inspired the White Revolution in India with the country becoming the top milk producer in the world today.

In recent years, however, the cooperative sector has faced structural challenges like dormant membership, lack of active participation of members in the management of cooperatives, politicization of cooperatives and bureaucratic control. Similarly, low level of participation by women and youth is a challenge and needs to be addressed.

Mounting dues in cooperative credit institutions, inadequate mobilization of own resources, over dependence on Governmental and institutional support, lack of professional management have proved harmful to their growth. There have been instances of mismanagement and absence of monitoring.

Probably the time has come to bring the requisite changes in the relevant laws governing cooperative sector in the context of changed techno-economic and business scenario to make the cooperatives viable and vibrant enterprises.

There are some 52,000 Cooperative Banks and Credit Unions, serving 177 million members in 100 Countries. It is estimated that cooperatives account for more than 100 million jobs around the world. We must learn from the new experiments taking place around the world in the cooperative sector.

Even in the service sector, the Cooperative model has been successfully adopted.55 per cent of the retail market in Singapore and 36 per cent in Denmark is held by cooperatives. Consumer cooperatives have prominent presence in Scandinavian countries, Japan and Switzerland.

Countries like Japan, Germany, France and Netherlands, provide affordable health care to common people based on cooperative model.

Similarly, in countries like US and Bangladesh, Electricity Cooperatives have been successful in making rural electrificationa viable enterprise. We must learn from their experiences and see if we can adopt some best practices in our own national context.

In India, the Government is promoting innovation and entrepreneurship in every field. There is immense scope of innovation in cooperative sector especially in rural and agro-economy cooperatives.You can bring about the long-awaited disruptive innovation with the help of research and linkage with professional institutions.