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Cooperative sector has a big role to play in bridging the urban-rural divide: Venkaiah Naidu
Naidu also spoke about the need to restructure agricultural markets by removing middlemen and intermediaries, thereby helping farmers to directly interact with the consumers
Cooperative can help in mitigating rural distress, by providing support facilities for farmers to ensure sustainability.
Venkaiah Naidu, the vice-president of India highlighted how corporates can help small and marginal farmers who are in need of support in the form of inputs, harvesting, storage facilities, distribution channels and a network of the market information system in Pune.
Naidu, on Monday attended the convocation ceremony of Vaikunth Mehta National Institute for Cooperative Management (VAMNICOM), an institute focusing on Agri-Business Management in Pune. He presented post graduate diplomas to the 51 graduating students.
In his address, Naidu said Cooperative societies are built on values of empowerment and solidarity and are not solely focus on profit creation, which in turn plays a crucial role in strengthening rural economy and in ensuring socio-economic development for inclusive growth and sustainable development.
“The cooperative sector has a big role to play in bridging the urban-rural divide and creating opportunities for income generation at grass-roots level,” said Naidu.
The vice-president applauded the vision of inclusive and sustainable growth that VAMNICOM, an institution named after Vaikunth Bhai Mehta the minister of finance and cooperation of the then Bombay State and the first Chairman of Khadi and village industries commission. He termed the contributions of Mehta as ‘foundational to cooperative sector in India’.
Naidu spoke about the need to restructure agricultural markets by removing middlemen and intermediaries, thereby helping farmers to directly interact with the consumers. He cited the national agricultural market, e-Nam as initiative that would greatly help farmers in this endeavour and said that e-Nam.
Vidyasagar Rao, governor of Maharashtra was also present for the occasion.
