The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Strengthen cooperative movement, says Minister

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 09, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Strengthen cooperative movement, says Minister

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: The Government’s plan to use proceeds from auction of recovered encroached land to write off farmers’ loans is taking longer than anticipated to be implemented, as it has not fetched the expected amount, Cooperation Minister G.T. Deve Gowda has said.

He was speaking at the silver jubilee function of the Ravugodlu Vyavasaya Seva Sahakara Bank at Taralu, near here, on Wednesday.

Mr. Deve Gowda said that the 20 lakh farmers who had availed themselves of loans at 4 per cent interest were benefiting well and the credit rating of these farmers had started looking up in the past three years.

The cooperative movement, which was now 100 years old, should revive itself to serve more people who would need access to financial schemes such as loans at low interest, Mr. Deve Gowda said.

Banks should extend open membership to farmers in cooperative societies, and bring the State’s 70 lakh strong farming community into its fold, he said.

The Government was committed to implementing the B.S. Vishwanathan report recommendations on the cooperative bank sector, as also the Vaidyanathan Committee recommendations at the national level, he said.

The Minister read out the speech of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, in which he exhorts cooperative institutions to change work culture to suit the needs of farmers.

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