05-18-2008, 11:17 AM
Coop societies to sell goods on CSD pattern
NRIsâ deposits to be accepted under a special scheme
Varinder Singh
Tribune News Service
Patiala, May 17
âGiven the present scenario of the liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation, cooperatives have to play a major role in the faster development of Punjab. For this, cooperative departments need to co-exist with the corporate world to mutual benefit each other,â stated Punjab cooperation minister Kanwaljit Singh, while inaugurating a national seminar on the âCooperative movement in socio-economic development in South-west Asiaâ, organised by Punjabi Universityâs Centre for South-West Asia Study at the university here yesterday.
Capt Kanwaljit Singh said, âAbject poverty, illiteracy, insurgency, unemployment and poor social services are posing a challenge for us. Market economy, on the other hand, is causing concentration of wealth instead of equitable distribution, thus, disturbing the balance.â In the absence of proper help from the cooperatives, the poor, especially farmers, have to suffer at the hands of moneylenders in the unorganised sector.
He disclosed that the Cooperative Department had planned a special scheme under which it would accept deposits in the form of term and fixed deposits from Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), giving them adequate interest return on their capital. In turn, this capital would be loaned to needy farmers and members of the Primary Agriculture Cooperative Socieities on a nominal interest rate. The department had chalked out a comprehensive plan to computerise all Primary Agriculture Cooperative Socieities (PACS) and interlink them through the Internet.
He said they would improve the condition of the farmers by providing cheap consumer goods at rates much less as compared to the market on the pattern of the CSD. Farmers would also be given agricultural tools at a nominal rent rate to reduce their expenditure.
Vice-chancellor Jaspal Singh, in his presidential remarks, said with the advent of free market economy, the gap between the rich and the poor was increasing beyond proportion.
Programme coordinator of the centre and dean, Academic Affairs, Sucha Singh Gill said the cooperatives should follow a people-centric model by removing bureaucratic hindrances. Sukhpal Singh from IIM, Ahmedabad, registrar of the varisty, S.S. Khehra, and R.S. Ghuman also spoke on the occasion.
NRIsâ deposits to be accepted under a special scheme
Varinder Singh
Tribune News Service
Patiala, May 17
âGiven the present scenario of the liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation, cooperatives have to play a major role in the faster development of Punjab. For this, cooperative departments need to co-exist with the corporate world to mutual benefit each other,â stated Punjab cooperation minister Kanwaljit Singh, while inaugurating a national seminar on the âCooperative movement in socio-economic development in South-west Asiaâ, organised by Punjabi Universityâs Centre for South-West Asia Study at the university here yesterday.
Capt Kanwaljit Singh said, âAbject poverty, illiteracy, insurgency, unemployment and poor social services are posing a challenge for us. Market economy, on the other hand, is causing concentration of wealth instead of equitable distribution, thus, disturbing the balance.â In the absence of proper help from the cooperatives, the poor, especially farmers, have to suffer at the hands of moneylenders in the unorganised sector.
He disclosed that the Cooperative Department had planned a special scheme under which it would accept deposits in the form of term and fixed deposits from Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), giving them adequate interest return on their capital. In turn, this capital would be loaned to needy farmers and members of the Primary Agriculture Cooperative Socieities on a nominal interest rate. The department had chalked out a comprehensive plan to computerise all Primary Agriculture Cooperative Socieities (PACS) and interlink them through the Internet.
He said they would improve the condition of the farmers by providing cheap consumer goods at rates much less as compared to the market on the pattern of the CSD. Farmers would also be given agricultural tools at a nominal rent rate to reduce their expenditure.
Vice-chancellor Jaspal Singh, in his presidential remarks, said with the advent of free market economy, the gap between the rich and the poor was increasing beyond proportion.
Programme coordinator of the centre and dean, Academic Affairs, Sucha Singh Gill said the cooperatives should follow a people-centric model by removing bureaucratic hindrances. Sukhpal Singh from IIM, Ahmedabad, registrar of the varisty, S.S. Khehra, and R.S. Ghuman also spoke on the occasion.