Uttarakhand Plays Host to Co-op Investment Summit

Dehradun: The week long interstate cooperative conference, exhibition and investment summit is underway in Dehradun from May 13 to 19 May 2017.

Inaugurating the conference Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Radha Mohan Singh said that women rub shoulders with other family members and work hard to provide a better life to their families. These women can strengthen their economic status through cooperatives in the small industry sector such as forestry, vegetable and fruit farming and solar energy.

Talking about the role of cooperatives in the development of Uttarakhand, Radha Mohan said that he was happy to learn that the State’s cooperative department has selected cooperative entrepreneurship as a medium to boost entrepreneurship in the state and organised the exhibition.

He also said that cooperatives are not a new phenomenon in our country and that the cooperative movement had first started in a village in Gujarat and the movement led to the enactment of Cooperative Credit Societies Act, 1904.

Radha Mohan said that it is important to implement Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana in Uttarakhand through cooperative societies and help affected farmers because the state’s agriculture sector is totally dependent upon monsoon.  He pointed out that the Government has taken concrete steps for the revival of cooperative societies to transform them into a dynamic, democratic organisation, so that they can face the challenges of a competitive global economy.

The Agriculture Minister further said that considering the importance of cooperative societies in improving rural economy, the Government is committed to boosting cooperative societies through various programmes.   He also congratulated the representatives of cooperative societies representing various States for their appreciable contribution in the cooperative sector and said that he hoped to continue the trend of such programmes being organised in other parts of the country.