Terming demonetisation “an unprecedented attack on the cooperative sector of this country”, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said that the Kerala government took on the Centre to ensure that the cooperative banks remain unscathed from the impact of note ban. “During demonetisation, there was an unprecedented attack on the cooperative sector of this country which is an alternative to the global corporate giants which are making this world a hotspot of conflict,” said Vijayan, adding that it was the Left Democratic Front government in Kerala which took the fight on the issue to the Centre. “Even the Supreme Court had to ask why there was so much hostility towards the cooperative sector. We were able to ensure that not even a rupee deposited in the cooperative banks of the state was lost,” he said. He was speaking at the launch of the book ‘Building Alternatives: The Story of India’s Oldest Construction Workers’ Cooperative’ by Kerala’s Finance Minister Thomas Isaac, and Michelle Williams, Associate Professor at Wits University (Johannesburg). Isaac said the primary cooperatives play a vital role in financing Kerala’s agriculture and raise huge deposits, unlike in other states. “About 31 per cent deposits in Kerala are from the primary cooperatives. We have learned big lessons from demonetisation. With demonetisation, no deposits could be withdrawn from cooperatives. The Central government doesn’t accept them as banks unless they give up non-banking activities. That’s not how our societies have come up,” he said. He said this is where the idea of a Kerala Bank emerged from — a large bank integrating district cooperative unions and state cooperative banks. Saying that cooperatives are a way in which small production can survive, economist Prabhat Patnaik said, “Demonetisation not only dealt a heavy blow against the petty production sector but demonetisation was a big blow against cooperative movement in Kerala, a state with a very developed cooperative movement.”
