Cooperatives driving rural economic growth: Sukhu

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Monday said that despite challenging topography and small landholdings, cooperatives in Himachal Pradesh have played a crucial role in strengthening the rural economy. “At present, over 5,000 cooperative societies, including around 2,000 primary agricultural credit societies, are active in the state that provide essential financial services to farmers and rural households,” he added while speaking at the valedictory session of the two-day national cooperative conference held here.

Sukhu said that the state government had dissolved the Board of Directors of Kangra Central Cooperative Bank due to irregularities during the previous government. He reaffirmed that it would not tolerate the misuse of public resources. He added that the Congress government was bringing major reforms in the education, health and the rural economy sectors.

The Chief Minister said that women self-help groups were being promoted under the ‘Him-Era’ brand while milk procurement had been increased significantly following a historic Rs 21 per litre hike in it prices. The Milkfed was now collecting 2.5 lakh litres every day from farmers, thereby strengthening their economy. Natural farming was also being encouraged with assured support prices while women and youth groups were being linked to forest conservation activities by offering incentives to them, he added.

Union Minister of State for Cooperatives Krishna Pal Gurjar congratulated Himachal Pradesh on achieving 100 per cent literacy. He said that the Union Government had launched the “Sehkaar Taxi Sewa”, which could benefit the people of Himachal could benefit, given the state’s immense potential in tourism. Himachal’s institutions could be linked with the newly established Tribhuvan Sehkari University and assured the gathering that the Central Government would consider special fee concessions for hill states.

Gurjar assured Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri that the Central Government would consider providing relaxation under Section 118 to cooperative societies for purchasing land for business purposes. He asked State Cooperative Bank to introduce a one-time settlement policy to help small farmers, orchardists, workers and traders so that they could become debt-free.

Agnihotri said that today, cooperative banks in the state hold deposits of nearly Rs 60,000 crore and people’s trust in cooperatives must be preserved.

Uttarakhand’s Cooperative Minister Dhan Singh Rawat said that over 10 lakh farmers in his state had received agricultural loans through cooperatives and the state aimed to connect 15 lakh people with the movement, with a strong focus on women empowerment.