Co-operative Week celebrations, closing ceremony held at State Cooperative Bank

Srinagar: An impressive function was held at the corporate office of J&K State Co-operative Bank to mark the closing of this year’s National Co-operative Week.
The function was chaired by Registrar Co-operatives, M. M. Rehman Gassi and was attended by Chairman State Cooperative Bank, Mohammed Shafi Dar, Managing Director State Cooperative Bank, M. Latif, senior officers of the cooperative department as well as State Co-operative Bank and representatives of several co-operative societies.
In his inaugural address, M. M Rehman said cooperative is a tool of socio-economic upliftment which needs to be strengthened. He asserted that the focus of the Cooperative movement in J&K is aimed at building a democratically vibrant, economically viable and self-reliant movement.
He said co-operative department is striving hard to restore the past glory of the movement and expressed hope that in near future cooperatives will play an important part in employment generation and rural development at grass root level.
Speaking on the occasion, Chairman State Cooperative Bank Mohammed Shafi Dar said Cooperatives are the backbone of the rural credit structure due to their many inherent characteristics. Therefore, strengthening the structure is a prerequisite, if the credit requirements of the rural populace are to be properly addressed. He expressed hope that the recapitalization of the three-district central cooperative banks will pave way for streamlining the three-tier cooperative credit structure in the state.
M. Latif, while expressing his views, said cooperatives need to transform to catch up with the fast-changing socio-economic scenarios. He said in an era of corporate and MNCs, where principal aim is profit making, cooperatives must be reinvigorated to stay relevant. He said professionalism coupled with coordination will help in realizing all round development of the cooperative sector. Representatives from several co-operative societies also spoke on the occasion.