MNCs no substitute for co-operative sector: Gujarat Governor

New Delhi, July 30 (UNI) Gujarat Governor Naval Kishore Sharma today showered accolades on the robustness of India's cooperative sector, saying it was capable of countering the might of international companies even in the globalisation era.

''There is a need to launch a public movement on the co-operative sector, which has proved its importance in globalisation era, ''Mr Sharma said.

To bolster his argument, he cited the examples of KRIBHCO, AMUL and IFFCO -- the success stories of India's cooperatve sector -- and asserted that international companies cannot become the alternative of this sector.

The Gujarat Governor was addressing the prominent leaders of Indian Cooperative Sector on the occasion of 14th Vaikunthbhai Mehta Memorial Lecture here, organised by National Co-operative Union of India (NCUI).

Mr Sharma said determination to improve the quality in co-operative sector was required. He also emphasised the need to use modern technology in this sector to improving the quality of products.

''The history of this sector is more than 200 years old and over seven billion members of cooperative organisations are spread over in 90 countries,'' he said, adding that the cooperative sector showed a distinct trend of becoming economically powerful.

The Governor said India is the world's leading milk producer and has also achieved remarkable success in the marketing and processing too. Also, more than 70 per cent sugar production is done in the cooperartive sector.

''In terms of both size and number, India's cooperative sector is largest in the world. The contributions of this sector in the country's development are enormous and can not be forgotten.'' Remembering Gandhiji, Sardar Patel and other cooperative leaders, he said the co-operative sector was established during the freedom movement and the ''fruits of this movement are now being availed by poor people of our country.'' On the occasion, he also launched the Hindi website of NCUI.

UNI