Omkar Dattatray
As usual the nation as well as the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir is celebrating 68th cooperative week. It is celebrated from 14th of November 2021 to 20thNovember 2021 every year throughout the country and Jammu and Kashmir is no exception. In fact this has become largest cooperative movement in the world. It is joined by about six lakh cooperative societies. As this celebration has a huge network, it plays an important role for India’s economic and social development. India recognizes the fact that there are still weak sections in the Indian economy. Therefore to address this issue the national cooperative week is celebrated every year. It is the time to strengthen the cooperative movement and focus on the various activities of the cooperatives. It is proper to know that this movement was started to encourage people to take active part in cooperatives so that their money will not remain idle but is used for the productive activities. Thus the awareness about the cooperation is to be inculcated in the people especially the youth of the society. Cooperative movement will help in the development of the weak sections of the society. The cooperative weak is celebrated by organizing various programmes like debates, conferences, seminars, webinars, discussions and other such activities which promote the sense of cooperative movement by inculcating the importance of the cooperative societies. In our union territory of Jammu and Kashmir the week commenced with the address of the LG Shri Manoj Sinha who threw light on the activities and the economic and social role of the and impressed upon the officers to work for strengthen the cooperative movement in the union territory. It is time to throw light and extend partnership between the international cooperative movement and the non-governmental organizations and the government .Through the celebration of the cooperative weak the cooperative societies threw light on the achievements, performance and also to plan the future activities of the cooperatives. The weak long seminars, debates, symposiums, conferences, discussions make people aware about the need and importance of the cooperatives for the social and economic development. The main objective of the celebration of the cooperative week is that it promotes cooperatives. The cooperatives contribute to the good of the economy because the people are encouraged to borrow money that they can use for productive activities .This leads to increase in the standard of living of the people. Cooperative week is the opportune time for people to join the cooperatives. The week long celebrations also lead to the Prosperity of the Indian economy. Improving the economic status of the people through lending and borrowing will definitely lead to better economy in general in the country. The celebration of the cooperative week also helps us to know more about cooperatives and share your knowledge with other members of the society. The celebration of the cooperative week also helps the people to choose a cooperative for you and then you join a cooperative of your choice. Every year there is a different theme for the cooperative week and this year’s theme for the celebration of the national week of the cooperatives is prosperity through cooperation and we should work towards this end so that prosperity is achieved in the spheres of the social and economic life of the people. We are living in a competitive economy and there are challenges, competitiveness and as such cooperatives should work to achieve the social and economic goals by rejuvenating the cooperatives so that they achieve the required efficiency. The cooperative week is celebrated not at the level of the union territory but the celebrations are performed at the district and tehsil level also to inculcate the fashion of the cooperatives among the people in the cities and rural areas. Thus for the upliftment of the people in the cities and villages the spirit and the organization of the cooperatives should be laid for the social and economic development of the people. The prime minister in the mid of the covid epidemic has given the slogan of the AtmaNirbhar Bharat and the cooperative organizations have become the wheels of the progress and economic development and have also become the engines of the societal and economic growth of the country. Hence in the sphere of the self reliance the cooperative societies played a significant role and helped the people to peruse policies which lead to self reliance and self sustaining and also to increase the efficiency of the cooperative movement. When the country was threatened by the coronavirus and was fighting the war against the disease the cooperatives provided the monetary help and also gave the help in kind also to the people and thus did a yeoman’s work to help the suffering humanity and such is the need for the cooperation and cooperatives. The cooperatives also performed social work and distributed food, masks as well as sanitizers to the needy people during the covid pandemic and thus came to the rescue of the needy people. Thus the cooperatives in the country perform the social and economic functions and also help the society to encourage the thrift and savings so that such savings could be invested into the gainful and productive activities. It fallows that during the crisis of Covid-19 the cooperatives played an important and enviable role by helping the needy people by providing them the help in cash and kind so that the people will not suffer any more due to hardship during the covid. The self help groups and the cooperatives help the people in the sphere of the economy and also in the field of social awareness so that the cooperatives become important wheels of the societal and economic development. It should be recognized that the cooperatives play an important role not only in the economic life but also advance the social life of the people. The cooperative societies are especially working in the rural areas and they have become the engines of the social and economic development of the people. The cooperatives should lead to the sustainable development and sustainable consumption and this is in conformity with this year’s theme of the cooperative week which is prosperity through cooperation. In brief we should resolve to further the aim of the prosperity through cooperation via cooperation movement. Let the cooperative movement be a successful movement and lead to the economic and social development of the people especially in rural India as the real India lives in villages. Long live cooperative movement.
(The writer is a retired education officer and columnist)
