NCUI to organise 15th Indian Cooperative Congress

New Delhi, Jan 18 (UNI) Over 200 delegates from all over the country will participate in the two-day 15th Indian Cooperative Congress, organised by the National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI), an apex organisation of the cooperative movement in the country, from January 21.

The theme of the Congress is ''Reforms Initiative - Vision for Autonomous and Competitive Cooperatives.'' President Pratibha Patil will inaugurate the mega event, while Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar will be the Chief Guest.

At the valedictory function Governor of Madhya Pradesh Balram Jakhar and Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi will be the key dignitaries.

More than 40 fraternal delegates, including Iain Macdonald, Director General of International Cooperative Alliance will be present at the function.

NCUI is in the process of establishing Jawahar Lal Nehru International Cooperative University which will provide a big boost to cooperative education in the country. The University, besides having MBA programme, will have courses at Bachelors, Masters and PhD level which have relevance in the market economy and also lay stress on employment generation.

There will be different courses in Agricultural and Rural Development, Law, Media Studies and Information Technology.

The Cooperative University will be the first of its kind in the world.

A Corpus Fund of Rs 200 crore has been created which will strengthen cooperative education and training in the country. The NCUI through its efforts has mobilised Rs 100 crore for the Corpus Fund from the cooperative movement, while the share of the government is Rs 100 crore.

The creation of Corpus Fund would lead to self-reliance in cooperative education and training efforts of NCUI would also lessen dependence on government.

A Cooperative Vision Document will be released during the Congress. A unique publication on success stories of the cooperative movement will also be released on the occasion.

There are more than five lakh cooperaives with 100 per cent coverage in the villages. The cooperatives have a major share in fertiliser disbursal, milk production and agricultural credit disbursement.

UNI BBS SP AS1607