Now is the time for reform of cooperative institutions, failing which it will be hard to keep alive for the future generation a sector so crucial for rural empowerment and agriculture, Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah said in the city on Friday.
He was speaking at Sahakara Sammelana, where he also launched the logo of Nandini Ksheera Samruddhi Sahakara Bank , the cooperative bank of Karnataka Milk Federation.
Recalling how the first cooperative society was started in Gadag in 1905, he said the sector over a century old is in the need of a reboot. “We have to accept that corruption has crept into our sector, which we need to root out to regain our credibility. We need to bring in transparency in elections to societies, recruitments and purchase. We need to inculcate self-discipline,” he said addressing a large gathering of members of the cooperative movement of the State.
Mr. Shah said he continues to be elected as the president of a cooperative society in his village and that he was proud to be the first cooperation Minister of the country, listing out reforms for the sector in the pipeline. “We live in the Internet age and it is high time the sector is computerised. It will also control corruption to a large extent. We are soon introducing a common software which will run a cooperative society to NABARD across the country. We will also introduce an online procurement platform, which will cut down on corruption significantly,” he said.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who also spoke at the event, said the State Government intends to computerise all cooperatives across the State this fiscal, as against the three-year target set by the Union Government.
The Union Government is also creating a national cooperative database and a new cooperative policy would be shortly unveiled, while work on establishing a national cooperation university was in its advanced stages, Mr. Shah said.
Mr. Shah also suggested that the Nandini Ksheera Samruddhi Sahakara Bank pilot the recent Union Government scheme of issuing credit cards to milk producers across the country. “Providing milk producers credit cards will help the sector immensely,” he said.
