Pull up socks or perish: Pawar?s message to cooperation sector

Agriculture and cooperation minister Sharad Pawar on Saturday asked cooperatives to pull up the socks or perish. Pawar said in the era of liberalisation cooperatives need to professionalise their operations, reduce administrative cost  and drastically cut the size of board of directors to take on competition. Pawar was speaking at the golden jubilee celeberations of the Maharashtra State Cooperative Marketing Federation.

At the outset Pawar made it clear he was seriously concern over the fate of cooperative movement which has been built and taken forward by leaders with a foresight.  “However, there has been mistrust against the cooperative movement per se due to wrongdoings of some people. Those involved in this sector needs to protect the interest of the beneficiaries apart from its own members. The sector will have to improve its efficiency to face fierce competition from the private sector,” he added.

Pawar informed that the Centre has proposed amendments to the existing cooperative laws to reduce powers of the state and the central governments.  However, more powers would be delegated to the people’s representatives on the board. The size of board of directors won’t be more than 20 members.