Pratibha Patil calls for women, youth participation in cooperatives

Sharad Pawar presides over two-day international conference organized by IFFCO

By Deepak Arora

NEW DELHI, July 4: Describing cooperatives as useful institutions for inclusive growth, President Pratibha Patil has stressed on the need to expand their scope by seeking participation of women and youths in larger numbers.

The conference was organised here by Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) during the course of the UN International Year of Cooperatives. The theme of the two-day international cooperative conference was “Cooperative Enterprises Build a Better World”.

Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar presided over the conference. Others who shaired the dais with the President were Union Minister of State for Agriculture Harish Rawat, IFFCO Chairman N P Patel, IFFCO Managing Director Dr U S Awasthi, Senior Cooperator Shivajirao G Patil, Chairman of National Cooperative Business Association Wilson H.Beebe Jr., and ICA Director Mamoru Moteki.

Inaugurating the conference, the President said “co-operatives in a sense is participation of people at all levels, working in a collaboration as these are enterprises based on people coming together and working collectively to achieve greater benefit.”

Showering praise on IFFCO, she said that IFFCO has emerged as one of the world's largest fertiliser co-operative and meets almost one-third demand for fertilizers in the country. It has played a major role in India achieving self-sufficiency in foodgrains.

Mentioning about the challenges of cooperative societies in a fast globalizing world order, President Patil said the co-operatives have to have a strategy to adapt to new requirements.

“They would need to sharpen their core competencies and increase their effectiveness, improve their competitiveness and work in a professional manner, to face increasing global competition from multi-nationals and bigger corporate businesses.”

President Patil said education institutions should hold courses on cooperatives in their campuses so that youth can develop an understanding and appreciation of the co-operative movement.

Highlighting importance of cooperative, the President said over one billion people globally are members of one cooperative or another.

In India alone there are over 249 million members of about six lakh cooperative societies in a range of agricultural activities such as credit, fertilisers, production, processing as well as other sectors like housing, dairying and textiles, she added.

Patil said a resounding success of cooperatives in India is its 'White revolution' which made the country the world's largest producer of milk and dairy products.

In his key note speech, Sharad Pawar said that cooperatives have potential to serve the interest of weaker sections of the society. He also stressed upon the important role of cooperatives in addressing the problems being faced by the farmers.

Mr. Pawar also acknowledged the contribution of the cooperatives in achieving the 250 million plus production of grains. He appreciated IFFCO as it has promoted the growth of agricultural cooperatives in a big way.

Mr Pawar also pointed out the role of government in cooperatives as it has also taken other measures which include approval of National Policy on Cooperatives aiming at providing necessary support and encouragement to the cooperatives to enable them to work as autonomous, self-reliant and democratically managed institutions accountable to their members.

The two-day conference had deliberations and brain storming sessions on challenges for cooperatives, corporate governance in cooperatives, new initiatives required by cooperatives to strengthen the socio-economic structure of nations, community development and women empowerment. International issues such as food security, education and development of cooperatives in Asia-Pecific region.

The conference was attended by delegates from China, Japan, Korea, Sri Lanka and Mauritius.

Top representatives from national level cooperatives like NAFED, KRIBHCO, NCUI, NCDC and NABARD shared their views during the conference. The conference was in line with global celebrations for International Year of Cooperatives 2012 announced by UN.

IFFCO Managing Director Dr. U. S Awasthi expressed his happiness and applauded the role of cooperatives in community and nation building.

Dr Awasthi assured that IFFCO is committed to the farmers of India and it will keep on surpassing its previous records to emerge as the global leader in both the production as well as marketing of fertilizers.

IFFCO Managing Director also said that IFFCO will keep on serving the farmers at their best and will try to bring new innovations for serving the rural and farming community in India.

The conference was concluded by closing remarks from Minister of State for Agricluture and food processing Charan Das Mahant the next day at NCUI auditorium.

India stands up to China on oil block

NEW DELHI, July 18: India will remain a contender in the struggle for the South China Sea for two more years. State-owned ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) has decided to continue oil and gas exploration in the disputed offshore Block 128 despite Beijing's warnings that this infringes on Chinese territorial claims.

OVL's decision is a volte face by the company, which had indicated just some months ago that it intended to exit Block 128 because of its rocky seabed and difficult exploration conditions.

OVL on Tuesday confirmed that it has accepted an offer from Vietnam's national oil company, PetroVietnam, to stay on for another two years.

"We have accepted the offer by PetroVietnam to extend our contract in Block 128 by a few more years," a senior OVL official said.

Last month, China invited international bids to explore this offshore block.

OVL officials said they had agreed to the extension "well before" China called for bids. Their decision came after PetroVietnam offered more "favourable terms and conditions".

"China can go ahead with its offering but who will bid for a block that is under dispute?" an OVL official asked.

"We have been told by the petroleum and foreign ministries to take a decision based on techno-economic considerations. The fresh techno-commercial data and easier frameworks proposed by PetroVietnam made OVL reverse its earlier decision to exit from the block earlier this year."

The OVL decision, however, would parallel India's official position that China had no "legal basis" for its protests against OVL's exploration of that block.

New Delhi has indicated it does not believe China's territorial claims stand up to international law.

Government officials admit OVL's decision could aggravate relations between New Delhi and Beijing.

It could also insert India into a widening political struggle over control of the South China Sea, pitting China against several Southeast Asian nations.

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