Cooperative societies are a means to ensuring financial inclusion in rural areas, says Minister

Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs H.K. Patil addressing a gathering after inaugurating a conference in Gadag on Friday.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Minister for Law, Justice, Human Rights, Parliamentary Affairs, Legislation and Tourism H.K. Patil has said that the over a century old cooperative movement in the country had contributed a great deal to the nation’s economical and social development.

He was inaugurating the 39th Annual Research Conference on “Cooperative Business Model for Resilience and Sustainability” organised by Karnataka State Rural Development and Panchayat Raj University in association with Indian Society for Studies in Cooperation (ISSC), Karnataka Rajya Samyukta Sahakari and VAMNICOM, Pune at Nagavi in Gadag on Friday.

Tracing the history of cooperative movement in Gadag district, the Minister said that it was in 1905 that Siddanagouda Sannaramanagouda Patil established the first agricultural credit cooperative society at Kanaginahal in Gadag district and subsequently cooperative societies were established Hulakoti and other places in the district. From 1904 when the Cooperative Societies Act was formulated to 2011, when the 97th constitutional amendment was made, cooperative societies acted as prominent tools of financial inclusion particularly in rural areas, he said.

“India has the world’s biggest cooperative sector with 8.5 crore cooperative societies and 29 crore members. These societies are contributing a great deal to the economic development and social reconstruction in the country”, he said.

The Minister also recalled the contribution of various cooperative leaders including his father and former minister K.H. Patil who strengthened the cooperative movement in Karnataka. “The year has been declared as cooperative year and it is a matter of pride that the conference has been organised in Gadag district where the cooperative movement took birth,” he said.

Registrar of KSRDPR Suresh Nadagoudar spoke about the objectives of the conference. A host of researchers from cooperative sector and resource persons were present.