Cooperatives should reinvent themselves
Cooperatives should reinvent themselves: While their methods have perhaps been too harshly criticised, they could do with more professionalism and empathy...
Reinvent cooperatives, quickly!
The message contained in the well
researched article “Cooperatives should reinvent themselves”*(The Hindu Business Line, March 7) has come
at the right time. The quote from Edgar Parnell exhorting cooperatives to shun
leaders who are “…ego builders, recognition seekers, hijackers, political
ladder climbers…” is the most appropriate to describe the parasites to be
avoided by cooperatives in 21st Century India.
Cooperatives across the country had
more than their due share of problems
post-demonetization. While primary(urban) cooperative banks whose functioning is similar to mini-commercial
banks are regulated and supervised by RBI, the three/two tier structure of
cooperatives comprising State and District Cooperative Banks and thousands of
primary cooperative societies have multiple regulatory and supervisory
oversight involving RBI, NABARD and Registrar of Cooperative Societies(State
Government).
There is urgency in finding a
solution to a problem that has arisen due to continued neglect of an
institutional system which has been serving the semi-urban and rural areas of
the country, with all constraints. There are no alternative conduits to
ensure banking service to their
clientele in semi-urban and rural areas. The cooperatives need to survive, and
issues like politicization, inadequate skills or problems arising from the dual
control of cooperatives by Centre and states should be set aside by judiciary,
governments and cooperatives themselves for a short period. There is need for
cooperation among these agencies in solving the immediate problems the
clientele of cooperatives are facing today.
Several short-cuts are being tried by
state governments and cooperatives which can only lead to more complications.
The short-cuts include bypassing DCCBs by state cooperative bank (as in
Kerala), diverting the business now being done by cooperatives to other
agencies and taking the problems to courts which helps in postponing
decision-making. The historic reason for the present state of affairs include
the straying away of NABARD constituted
with the specific purpose of supporting the institutional framework responsible
for agriculture and rural development from its focus on cooperatives and RRBs
to greener pastures like Self Help Groups with commercial banks’ involvement.
At this stage Centre should assert
and empower state level task forces involving RBI, NABARD, banks and state
governments to resolve the problems locally in a time bound manner.
M G Warrier,
Mumbai
"A professional in a cooperative — besides possessing universally accepted qualities of mastery over the domain, adherence to ethics and association with professional bodies — should invariably possess the quality of empathy as s/he has to mainly deal with ordinary folks. V Kurien (Amul), GK Panicker (Kerala Dinesh Beedi) are examples. There is an urgent need to institutionalise and strengthen arrangements for ensuring sound human resources management practices in cooperatives covering recruitment, compensation package, re-skilling, career advancement and social security of employees of all cadres.
To conclude, cooperatives, therefore, must develop on their intrinsic strengths."
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