Mumbai , Dec. 28 - THE Union Government will shortly unveil a Rs 8,500-crore financial package to revive the co-operative sector.

The details of the package are being worked out, according to Mr Rajnath Singh, Union Minister for Agriculture. He was speaking at a two-day national convention of co-operatives organised by Sahakar Bharati.

According to Mr Singh, the Government has already enacted the Multi-State Co-operative Act, 2002 to give sufficient autonomy to multi-State co-operative institutions.

All efforts would be made to reduce interest rates for the farmers to bring them on par with the manufacturing and other sectors. He stressed the need for economic discipline in the era of increasing competition.

While the reduction of interest rates has largely benefited the urban areas, the farmer in the rural area continues to pay high interest rates, Mr Singh said. "The Finance Ministry is already considering a proposal to bring down the interest rates for farmers to nine per cent."

Mumbai – Enchanting legislations would be not be a solution for providing social security, said RSS Sarasanghchalak K Sudarshan here, reports UNI.
He further said that the concept of “Parivar” prevalent in the India context is the only solution in reducing the expenditure incurred on social security.
Sudarshan said this here with reference to the reports of privatizing the social security
Schemes in the developed countries in light of the increasing costs.
He was delivering the valedictory address at the two – day national convention of Sahakar Bharati, which concluded here on Sunday evening. The convention, attended by close to 8,000 delegates from all over the country, was inaugurated on Saturday by the Union Minister for Agriculture Rajnath Singh which Union Minister for Petroleum Ram Naik was the guest of honour. US spends close to 28 percent of its gross domestic product (GD) on social security schemes while UK, France, and Germany Spend 29 percent, 45 percent and 55 percent respectively.

Surarshan emphasized that the Indian concept of ‘Vishwa-Parivar’ is far more relevant for global welfare but westernized model of development enforced on India has resulted in large scale unemployment among the problems. Suggesting co-operatives as a solution to the demerits of capitalism and socialism, he said that economic upliftment is possible through co-operatives, since the principle of trust is very much prevalent within the different castes and communities in India. Citing examples of better institutional work, developed by different castes, resulting in development of all communities, Sudarshan said that Sahakar Bharati would do well to propagate the concept of co-operative culture.
He lauded the efforts of the downtrodden community from Shivkasi in Tamil Nadu for the courage and willingness to donate money to a politician for the purpose of maintaining communal harmony. The politician would have otherwise created a rift with the other communities by his speeches during the election campaign. Which was avoided. Sudarshan said. Sudarshan wished all success to the new incurmbent, Dr. Avinash Acharya as the All India President of Sahakar Bharati

He was elected unanimously at the national convention, succeeding Vasant Deopujari, while Kankodi Padmanabh was unanimously elected as the general secretary in place of Satish Marathe.
Earlier, at the inaugural function on Saturday. Rajnath Singh said that the Union Government is in the process of shortly unvelling a financial pakage of Rs. 8,500/- crore to revive the co-operative sector. The broad details of this pakage are being worked out, he added.

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