GANGTOK, 10 June [IPR]: State level seminar on Training and
Education to Cooperative Societies of Sikkim was held in the capital today. The
seminar organised by Sikkim State Cooperative Union (SICUN) was chaired by Minister
RM&DD and Cooperative Department, SB Subedi.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister Mr Subedi called for
proactive participation of people in this high-priority sector. Lauding the
efforts of SICUN to develop the cooperative sector in the state, he stressed on
the need to encourage the youth to come forward and embrace this sector.
He categorically stated that the practice of sub-letting
public works granted to Cooperative Societies needs to stop immediately.
Further, the Minister assured full support towards the development of the
Cooperative sector in the state.
Secretary Cooperative Department, Ujjwal Gurung in his
opening remarks called for the need to diversify the activities of the
Department and SICUN towards areas like food processing and tourism for
sustainability.
Earlier, delivering his welcome address, president SICUN, Ganesh
Rai mentioned that International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) has announced the
current decade as ‘Cooperative Decade’, with a vision to attain self-dependence
and sustainability. He urged the participants to embrace this vision in the
State.
He further informed about SICUN’s plan to conduct trainings
at every Gram Vikash Kendra in the state. He also informed about the coming up
of quality infrastructure in the form of a Cooperative Training Institute under
the aegis of SICUN at Assam Lingzey, East Sikkim which is nearing completion
and also assured that future trainings will give more emphasis on training the
youth and unemployed as per the vision of the Government.
He stressed about a need to shift from consumer mentality to
producer mentality. Cooperative has a major role in this regard, he said. Mr
Rai proposed the initiation of a grading system to judge the performance of cooperative
societies and the best of the lot be given special preference for public works
by departments.
He requested the Department to facilitate attachment of a
few officers to SICUN to address the challenge of manpower shortage. Mr Rai
informed about a three-day specialised training for cooperatives incorporating
all the suggestions placed in today’s meeting. He invited the participants for
their suggestions. Suggestions were also sought about the quality of resource
persons to impart these trainings.
During the technical session, Executive Officer, SICUN, BK
Subba presented a report on training activities carried out by SICUN since
2006. He elaborated on the types of trainings conducted during the reporting
period duly listing the categories of people trained. Mr. Subba also invited
suggestions from representatives of the cooperative societies about any
alterations or up gradations in the training modules. He also threw light on
the Annual General Meetings of the Union and further informed about the calendar
of training at block level in the year 2014-15.
The technical session was also addressed by Managing
Director Denzong Agricultural Cooperative Society, MT Sherpa. He shared his
learnings from a recent exposure visit to Brazil to attend an International Cooperative
Expo.
This was followed by a deliberation on Training and
Education by Additional Registrar Cooperative Department, RK Gautam.
He ruled out the practice of sub-letting works for
individual benefits and called for effective check and balance in this regard.
He further sought cooperation from department officials and SICUN in matters
related to training and education and audit.
In his deliberation, member of Board of Directors, Parasmani
Dangal called for introspection on the quality of awareness/publicity/education
and training on the ideology/concept and the behavioral aspects of
cooperatives. Mr Dangal cited inadequacy of literature/ resource in this
subject and the almost non-existent literature on the work/success stories.
Lamenting that these aspects have hampered the cooperative
movement, he called for sharing of positive stories through various media to
make cooperatives a subject of general discussion. He stressed on the need to inculcate a sense
of collective ownership. He further suggested that trainings should be result
oriented and should bring about a distinct change in the opinion/ concept of
the people about cooperatives.
This was followed by sharing of experience by Managing
Director SIMFED, Kuber Bhandari from his participation at a recent cooperative
expo in Delhi and an International organic food products display in the month
of March 2014. The learnings from these forums suggest that the value of
organic products of Sikkim is immensely high in the national and international market,
he said.
This calls for a mission to ‘grow more’ because of adequate
national and international market. Placing a few suggestions, he added that the
trainings imparted by SICUN could incorporate aspects like packaging, sorting
grading and quality management of products, how to increase shelf life of
perishable items, cluster approach of farming, need for exposure trips for
cooperatives.
The event also witnessed the Release of Training Calendar
2014-15 by the Secretary Cooperative Department. The concluding remarks were
made by Deputy Chairman SICUN, LP Kafley
