Report by OD bureau; Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patanik hails the role of cooperatives to consolidate the rural economy.  He said this during the East Zone Cooperative Conference in Bhubaneswar.

Patnaik said that,  "In Odisha the cooperatives have been providing agricultural credit to the extent of around 65 percent of the total credit in the sector. Our farmers are getting crop loans at 5 percent interest, which is further subsidized to 2 percent in case of prompt repayment through interest subvention. Paddy being the major crop of our state, the State Government has been ensuring Minimum Support Price to the farmers through paddy procurement in which Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) have been playing a pivotal role."

Speech of Chief Minister at East Zone Cooperative Conference on 28.9.12

I welcome all the delegates attending this important zonal conference.  I am glad to learn that the United Nations has declared the Year 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives in recognition of the contribution of the Cooperative movements across the Globe. 
We all are aware that cooperatives have been playing a pivotal role to consolidate the rural economy of our country. Around one crore families are members of the cooperatives and they depend on this sector to earn their livelihood.

In Odisha the cooperatives have been providing agricultural credit to the extent of around 65 percent of the total credit in the sector. Our farmers are getting crop loans at 5 percent interest, which is further subsidized to 2 percent in case of prompt repayment through interest subvention. Paddy being the major crop of our state, the State Government has been ensuring Minimum Support Price to the farmers through paddy procurement in which Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) have been playing a pivotal role. Our Government is committed to transform the PACS as a one stop shop to meet all the requirements of the farmers under one roof.

As you know Odisha has a long coastline and also large number of fresh water ponds for pisciculture. Recently the State Government has introduced a special package named “Matshyajibi Unnayana Yojana” for the socio-economic development of the fishermen of the state. We have 1024 Fishermen Co-operative Societies in the state. Our aim is to bring all fishermen into the Co-operative fold. During this year we are providing Rupees two lakh grant per society to 30 primary cooperative societies for developing their corpus and Rupees 40 lakh to the State Federation for social upliftment.

I am also happy to note that around 10 lakh fishermen of Odisha have been covered under Group Accident Insurance Scheme during this year. My state has been continuously awarded for last three years for insuring highest number of fishermen in India.  Rupees six crore has been provided to 60 Fishermen cooperatives of Chilka area for their development through Chilika Development Authority.

The three-tier Dairy Cooperatives with more than 2.5 lakh members in the State have proven themselves as a viable business model.   OMFED & its affiliated District Milk Unions have taken up effective programmes to make dairy a profitable enterprise.  OMFED & its affiliated District Milk Unions have taken up services like organizing Milk Producers Cooperative Societies (MPCS), Skill development programme for farmers, milk procurement and other basic services to make dairy a profitable enterprise.    Some of the Government schemes like Calf Rearing, Health Camp, and Fodder cultivation implemented through Dairy Cooperative Societies have been successful in the state which is indicative of the strength of the Cooperatives.

We are also implementing a  revival package for weavers  to come out of their chronic indebtedness and to provide them with fresh concessional credit to carry out their activities. 

The State Government is committed to amend the Cooperative Society Act to comply with the 97th Amendment of the Constitution so that more autonomy will be provided to cooperative organizations. A Bill will be introduced in the Odisha Legislative Assembly very soon in this regard. With this amendment, the membership of the cooperatives will become a fundamental right and it would help in consolidating the cooperative movement. 

 I am sure this Conference will evolve appropriate strategies to prepare a roadmap for making the cooperatives more competitive in the post-liberalization regime.  I expect that this Conference would focus on institutional protection systems  with transparency  to strengthen cooperative organizations.

 I wish the conference all success.