Kurien calls for freeing Co-operatives

VADODARA, April 19: Calling on the Gujarat Government to put its words into action, member of Cooperative Initiative Panel CIP and former chairman of National Dairy Development Board NDDB Dr V Kurien has hailed the Jammu and Kashmir Government for liberating co-operatives.

According to Dr Kurien, the legislation would not only inspire the co-operatives in Jamp;K but also throughout India. The co-operatives are shackled by laws that deny them the right to create genuine co-operative enterprise, he said. 8220;Being mother of the Indian co-operative movement, Gujarat now risks being left behind as a prisoner of the past,8221; he remarked. The Jamp;K Legislative Assembly on April 13 unanimously passed the Jammu and Kashmir Self Reliant Co-operatives Bill, 1998, thus becoming the third state after Bihar and Karnataka to follow the Andhra Pradesh pattern.

The new act guarantees co-operatives the same freedom to conduct their own affairs that other forms of enterprises presently enjoy. Elections will be conducted by the co-operatives and selection of auditors will be the co-operatives8217; responsibility.

Panel member and former deputy chairman of the Planning Commission Mohan Dharia said over the years increased state participation in financing and management of cooperatives had led to an unfortunate situation. He alleged that co-operatives had started to perceive themselves not as member-owned and controlled and member sensitive businesses but as channels for the government subsidies and largesse.