Agricultural societies urged to become self-reliant

New Delhi, Jan 4 (UNI) The National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) today awarded its biennial awards-2006 for excellence to 28 cooperatives in various sectors from as many states.

Dr P K Mishra, Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, gave away the awards at a function here.

Speaking on the occasion Dr Mishra, complimented the award winning cooperatives from different categories like rural banking, agricultural credit, multi purpose, handloom, marketing, fishery, labour and service cooperatives.

He lauded the important role played by the cooperative sector in the agricultural economy of the country, particularly in the fields of increased agricultural and milk production.

Dr Mishra outlined the various challenges faced by the cooperative sectors and called upon the planners, policy makers and cooperatives themselves to work together to find out viable solutions.

He also listed various measures initiated by the Government, which include the package for revamping the rural credit cooperatives and stressed the need for the agricultural cooperatives to become self-reliant financially and operationally.

Earlier, NCDC Managing Director P Uma Shankar said that through the excellence award the corporation endeavours to acknowledge and bring into focus the yeoman contribution of these cooperatives to socio-economic development.

President of National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI) Dr S S Sisodia and the President of the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories (NFCSF) Jayantilal B Patel, were also present on the occasion.

NCDC had instituted the award in 2002, to be given on biennial basis carrying a cash prize of Rs 50,000, a citation and a certificate of recognition, to inculcate a sense of achievement and a spirit of competition in the cooperatives.

The NCDC is a statutory body set up under an Act of Parliament, 1962. Assistance provided by the Corporation for various developmental programmes has registered substantial increase from less than Rs 3 crore in 1962-63 to Rs 2,300 crore in 2005-06. So far, cumulatively Rs 11,085 crores has been provided by the NCDC to the cooperative sector.

UNI