National convention on cooperative movement begins tomorrow

Mumbai, Nov 9 (UNI) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan will inaugurate the second national convention of the Sahakar Bharati at New Delhi tomorrow evening.

The three-day convention is expected to be attended by over 2,500 delegates, representing over 500 co-operative institutions, from all states and union territories, including Andaman Nicobar Islands, Sikkim and Manipur, Sahakar Bharti, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), said here today.

Former Union Minister Suresh Prabhu, now an MP, will deliver the key-note address on water resources management in rural and urban areas and the role co-operatives can play in water resources management, environment protection and energy generation.

Reserve Bank's former Executive Director Ajit Sardesai will speak on revival of rural co-operative credit delivery system.

The convention will deliberate on issues relating to the implementation of the Vaidyanathan Committee's recommendations. It will also decide upon an action plan to force the recalcitrant state governments to quickly sign memoranda of understandings ( MoUs) for speedy implementation of the revival package and strengthening the credit delivery mechanism in the rural areas, Sahakar Bharati National Secretary Satish Marathe said.

The conference will also take up issues confronting the urban co-operative banking sector and consider action plan to persuade state governments to sign MoUs with the Reserve Bank of India so as to remove the growth impediments in this sector.

This is the second national convention being organised by Sahakar Bharati. The first was held in Mumbai in 2003.

The NGO, set up in Maharashtra in 1978 and raised to the National level on Gandhi Jayanti day in 1999, is committed to the cause of promotion and growth of co-operative movement in the country on non-partisan lines.

UNI MPJ SA KR DS1403