Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore   

Govt to introduce quota in co-ops. soon

By Our Special Correspondent,

Bangalore Nov. 11. The Government intends to bring in reservation in management and employment for categories such as backward classes in cooperative institutions and also to stipulate the percentage of loans to be given to them, the Minister for Cooperation, H. Vishwanath, said here today.

Such a provision was there in the laws relating to local bodies and it was necessary to have a similar provision the Cooperative Societies Act. The matter had already been passed by the screening committee of the Law Department and it would be taken up by the Cabinet soon, Mr. Vishwanath said.

The Minister, who was participating in a "Meet the press" programme organised by the Press Club of Bangalore, referred to the role played by the Cooperation Department in the economic life of the people and said there were 30,000 cooperative institutions under the department with an annual turn over of Rs. 25, 000 crore.

There were more than 51,000 self-help groups within the ambit of the department which had helped save Rs. 41 crore, and it was proposed to raise their number to 70,000 before March next, when the movement would enter its centenary year in the State, to make every woman in the village a resource person.

Mr. Vishwanath also referred to the success of the Yashaswini scheme of health insurance for farmers and agricultural labourers and said the Cabinet had decided to create a Rs. 2000-crore corpus over a three-year period so that the interest could be utilised to provide healthcare to these sections. A trust had been formed for the purpose and it would be registered in a week.

Mr. Vishwanath said a Cabinet subcommittee had been formed under the chairmanship of the Agriculture Minister to suggest measures to protect the interests of sugarcane growers and sugar mills, which were in distress. The report was expected to be finalised shortly.

Answering a question, Mr. Vishwanath admitted there were cases of misappropriation and other malpractice in the cooperative societies, but added that they were nothing as hardly Rs. 42 crore was involved compared to the huge turnover in the sector, and even this could be recovered.

The Government had identified officers of the level of joint directors to head the proposed divisional-level tribunals to dispose of pending cases expeditiously.

Cooperative Week

Mr. Vishwanath told presspersons who met him later in the day that the All-India Cooperative Week would be observed from November 14 to 20. The Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, would inaugurate the celebrations at Bantwal in Dakshina Kannada.

During the weeklong celebrations, seminars and discussions would be held in various parts of the State. On the inaugural day at Bantwal, there would be a seminar on cooperative autonomy and growth.

On November 15, in Bangalore, there would be a seminar on marketing development, value-addition, and consumer cooperatives. On November 16, at Sirsi, there would be a discussion on cooperative credit and rural development and the same subject would be discussed at a seminar in Mysore the following day.

At Bijapur, on November 18, there would be a seminar on people's participation and cooperative leadership. On November 19, there would be a seminar on women and youth in cooperative development, in Chikmagalur.

The valedictory function of the Cooperative Week would be held in Shimoga and there would be a seminar on poverty alleviation, employment generation, and social justice with reference to cooperatives.

Efforts were also on to release a stamp on Siddanna Gouda Ramanna Gouda Patil, founder of the cooperative movement in the State. The State Government had requested the Centre to release the stamp on the first day of the Cooperative Week.

Answering a question, he said the question of granting autonomy to cooperative institutions was under consideration although care was necessary since nearly Rs. 11,000 crore of public money was invested in the cooperatives.

The Government had to have a certain degree of control over the cooperative bodies, he said.

`Krishna will lead'

At the "Meet the press" programme, Mr. Vishwanath said Mr. Krishna would be projected as the leader of the party in the elections to the Legislative Assembly as it was the convention that party was led by the Chief Minister in States where it was in power and by the State unit President where it was not in power.

Giving a new twist to the controversy on who would lead the party in the next elections, Mr. Vishwanath said that Mr. Krishna was "our leader" and the Government had come out with several new concepts for the welfare of the people after he took over as Chief Minister.

Replying to a question, he said it was only the Congress that could throw up a person from the backward classes as Chief Minister.

Clarifying a statement that had led to a controversy, he said that all he had meant was that much more needed to be done to help the backward classes and this did not imply that nothing had been done for them by the Government.

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