Kerala - Kochi   

Cooperative laws to be revamped

Photo: Vipinchandran

Simon Cox, Cooperative Group, U.K., lighting a traditional lamp to mark the inauguration of the Sixth Cooperative Congress in Kochi on Friday. Also seen are (from left) K Babu, MLA, Kadakampally Surendran, president of the State Cooperative Bank, K M Mani, former Revenue Minister, G. Sudhakaran, Minister for Cooperation, T.H. Mustapha, former MLA, and Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy and M.M. Monaye, MLA and general convenor of the conference.

KOCHI: There is an urgent need to start self-financing educational institutions on a no-profit, no-loss basis or students from the economically weaker sections will be left out, Cooperation Minister G. Sudhakaran said here on Friday.

He was speaking at the inauguration of the Sixth Cooperative Congress, presided over by him. Only a few educational institutions have been opened by the government after the 1970s, the Minister said. Public-sector cooperatives have understood the gravity of the situation and addressed the need for affordable higher education in the State. The Minister cautioned against panicking at the very mention of self-financing institutions.

He said a Bill to overhaul cooperative laws in the State in keeping with the requirements of the times would come up in the next Assembly session. The cooperative movement could resist globalisation only by strengthening the poorer sections of society that were unable to compete in the capital market, he said. Kerala accepts assistance from the Union Government when it comes with acceptable conditions, the Minister said. He discounted media reports that the State was reluctant to accept help from the Centre.

He felt that the Vaidyanathan committee had not taken into consideration the achievements of the cooperative movement in Kerala.

He wondered why NABARD which did not inquire into cooperative banks depositing money in private banks wanted to blacklist cooperative banks that depos ited money in the treasury.

Simon Cox of the Cooperative Group in the U.K., who inaugurated the congress, emphasised the need to “develop plans to meet the various challenges to ensure a prosperous future for the cooperative movement” at this “momentous point in the globalisation process.”

Delivering the keynote address at the inaugural session, Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy said the Vaidyanathan committee report should not be rejected in its entirety, but an open-minded discussion was needed on it.

Mr. Chandy said the process of globalisation was turning the world into a single village and the cooperative movement should not opt for temporary solutions.

Fisheries Minister S. Sarma said the Ernakulam District Cooperative Bank had played a key role in the development of Kochi, and pointed to the instance of the bank leading a consortium to finance the bridges that linked Ernakulam to its neighbouring islands, such as Vypeen.

The former Revenue Minister K.M. Mani called for more freedom to the cooperative sector. He said that cooperatives that did not receive assistance from the government should be allowed to function freely so that they became more competitive.

K. Chandran Pillai, MP; V.K. Ebrahim Kunju, K. Babu and K. Shivadasan Nair, MLAs; Kadakampally Surendran, president of the State Cooperative Bank; Jiji Thompson, Secretary, Cooperation Department; and Rani George, Registrar of Cooperatives; offered felicitations. E. Narayanan, Chairman, State Cooperative Union, welcomed the gathering. M.M. Monayi, MLA and president of the Ernakulam District Cooperative Bank, proposed a vote of thanks.

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