Annual Report 2009-2010 - Department of Agriculture & Co-operation

cooperatively under developed states. Similarly,
Jharkhand, Bihar, and Jammu and Kashmir were
classified as cooperatively least developed
states, in addition to the existing states. Now,
10 states and two UTs have been categorised as
under-developed and 11 states as leastdeveloped.
16.17 During the year 2009-10, financial
assistance of Rs. 757.58 crore has been
disbursed by the NCDC to various cooperatives
in cooperatively least/under-developed states/
UTs under its various schemes.
16.18 During 2009-10 (up to 30 November 2009)
under the restructured Central Sector Scheme
for assistance to cooperatives for marketing,
processing, and storage programmes, a subsidy
of Rs. 3.59 crore has been disbursed.
16.19 Strengthening of National-Level
Cooperative Federations: The progressive
expansion and diversification of the cooperative
movement has led to the organisation of nationallevel
cooperative institutions in different fields
of economic activity, with a view to accelerating
the pace of cooperative development and
strengthening cooperatives in their economic
activities in a coordinated manner. National-level
cooperative federations have been playing a
significant leadership role. Most of these
federations are promotional in nature, excepting
for a few, which are involved in commercial
activities. The DAC has been providing both
policy direction and financial support to these
federations. The objective of the scheme is to
assist national-level federations in undertaking
promotional and research activities, bringing
about improvement in infrastructural facilities
and also assisting in building their equity base
16.20 Gender in Agriculture: The NCDC
encourages women's cooperatives to avail of
assistance under its various schemes. A large
number of women members are engaged in
cooperatives dealing in the areas of fisheries,
power looms, garment manufacturing and
knitting units, spinning mills, fruits and
vegetables, marketing and processing, poultry,
and service cooperatives, etc. So far, assistance
of Rs. 126.37 crore has been provided for women
cooperatives in the country. Prominent among
the women cooperatives which have so far been
assisted by the NCDC are programmes related
to textiles (spinning, handlooms, power looms),
poultry, fisheries, plantation crops, service
cooperatives, and integrated cooperative
development projects, etc.
16.21 Up to 31 March 2009, the NCDC has
cumulatively sanctioned and released financial
assistance of Rs. 133.73 crore and Rs. 78 crore,
respectively, for the development of cooperative
societies exclusively organised by women. This
included food grain processing, plantation crops,
oilseed processing, fisheries, Integrated
Cooperative Development Projects (ICDPs),
spinning mills, handloom and power loom
weaving and sugar mills, etc. The assistance
sanctioned and released for the development of
the sector during the year under report stood at
Rs. 3.95 crore and Rs. 3.33 crore, respectively.
16.22 Revitalisation of Cooperatives: With the
phenomenal expansion of cooperatives in almost
all sectors, signs of structural weakness and
regional imbalances have also become apparent.
The reason for such weakness could be
attributed to the large percentage of dormant
membership, heavy dependence on government
assistance, poor deposit mobilisation, lack of
professional management, mounting overdues,
etc. Concrete steps have now been initiated to
revitalise the cooperatives, to make them vibrant
democratic organisations with economic viability
and the active participation of their members.
The steps taken for the revitalisation of
cooperatives include the enunciation of a
National Policy on Cooperatives, revamping of
the cooperative credit structure, and reforms in
cooperative legislation for providing an
Cooperation
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