NEW DELHI, Dec 8:
Indian cooperatives need to bring in professionalism for which state laws need to be amended in line with Central legislation to ensure the country’s 6 lakh cooperatives work as autonomous, self-reliant and democratic bodies, President Pranab Mukherjee said here today.
The Centre has brought in the 97th amendment to the Constitution which has been made effective from February 2012.
The State Governments have been given one year time till February, 2013 to amend their laws accordingly.
“Recently, the Government has taken a big initiative for cooperatives by bringing a 97th amendment to the Constitution, which enables democratic and autonomous functioning. By this amendment, right to form cooperatives has been made a fundamental right,” Mukherjee said after giving away the NCDC awards for cooperative excellence, here.
He said to take this initiative further to grass root levels, state governments also need to create an enabling environment by amending state laws as and when necessary.
Mukherjee further said although the cooperatives sector with 6 lakh cooperatives and 24 crore membership has made an effective contribution for inclusive growth, the sector is confronted with challenges.
“The cooperatives in our country face many challenges and problems. Their performance across sector, activities and regions is variable. They need to re-orient by improving their efficiency and have to develop themselves professionally to meet requirement of their core clientele,” he said.
Echoing views, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said: “Never before has the need for restoring confidence of people in the cooperative sector been felt so much to achieve the goal of inclusive development.
In this context, he said, the issue of good governance has assumed importance as large number of cooperatives are experiencing serious problems “like mismanagement, financial impropriety, growing distance between members and management and weak resources, etc”.
Pawar said there is an “urgent need to revamp the cooperatives” to enable them work autonomously and in a professional way.
The Indian cooperative movement is largest in the world, Pawar said adding its share in fertiliser distribution is 35 per cent and in sugar production nearly 46 per cent.
Hence the role of cooperatives as an agent of change in bringing about betterment in lives of weaker sections, is significant, the Minister added.
Earlier, Mukherjee gave away the National Awards, instituted by National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) to mark its golden jubilee this year.
The recipient of the national award with Rs 1 lakh cash and a citation include Assam-based Rampur Goan Panchayat Samabay Samity Ltd, Andhra Pradesh-based Mulukanoor Women’s Cooperative Dairy Vishwandapuri and Maharashtra-based Samarth Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Ltd—in the category of least developed state, underdeveloped state and developed state, respectively.
Besides, 24 other cooperatives from different states received State Level Awards, which consisted of Rs 50,000 cash and citation. (PTI)
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