Holding that concerted attempts were being made to thwart the State’s cooperative sector, Cooperation Minister V.N. Vasavan has stated that the newly introduced Kerala Cooperatives Amendment Bill contains strict measures to check irregularities and undesirable trends in cooperative institutions.
Inaugurating a district-level meeting of shareholders in the cooperative sector, the Minister noted that Kerala accounted for 71% of India’s cooperative investments while 412 products were being brought out to the market through cooperatives. About 90% of the State’s population carried out transactions in the cooperative sector, which also offers health and education services at a lower cost.
“Some people with vested interests are now trying to destroy this popular alternative. The Reserve Bank of India now has 262 cooperative banks either fined or locked up. I have never heard of any agency holding any proper investigation into their functioning and no one knows about the fate of the shareholders,” the Minister said.
According to the Minister, the Kerala Cooperatives Amendment Bill was prepared by holding sittings in all 14 districts and by also taking into account the opinions and suggestions of shareholders, people’s representatives and experts.
The Bill stipulates team audit instead of concurrent audit, reporting of tmployees’ liability in general meetings, and proposes recommendation by a five-member committee for loans above ₹10 lakh, besides the presentation of defect summary and report in general meeting, among other things.
Thomas Chazhikadan, MP, presided over the meeting, attended by the various legislators and elected representatives of the Left Democratic Front besides hundreds of shareholders.
