EXPRESS NEWS SERVICESURAT, April 29: Participants at an annual convention of women's co-operatives, jointly conducted by the Gujarat State Co-operative Society, Women's Co-operative Education and Training Centre and Valsad District Co-operative Society at Tithal in Valsad district, said that women should step up their efforts to ensure that the women's co-operative movement in the state picked up momentum.Representatives of a number of co-operatives from the state, who converged at the picturesque Tithal beach area of Valsad district for the convention, discussed the problems faced by various women's co-operatives in the region and ways to solve them. Sumantrai Nayak, director of the Gujarat State Co-operative Society inaugurated the convention on Tuesday.At the inaugural session, Nayak said that women must wholeheartedly take part in the programmes being conducted by the Valsad District Co-operative Society. He added that in all cases, women should be considered on par with men and provided equal opportunities to ensure their growth.Stating that the largest number of women's co-operatives, as compared to those in the state, were in Valsad district, the executive officer of the zilla co-operative Jayanti Patel said that though this was a good sign, women still declined from taking up responsible positions in the co-operative movement in the district.Specially invited to speak on the occasion, district registrar of the co-operative societies of Valsad district, Y N Balo said that he had observed that men held a number of positions even in women's co-operatives, which proved that women still required to take up more responsibility in the working and management of the societies. He added that the district industries centre (DIC) and other development agencies at the taluka and village level were always prepared to help out the co-operatives financially.Hansaben Patel and Anjaniben Patel explained to the audience, comprising largely of women, as to how they could obtain loans and grants from different agencies working for the welfare of women. Apart from these functions, the best co-operative and individual members were given away shields and other prizes.
