Need to make women self-reliant through cooperatives: Sanghani

The National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI) organized an event in New Delhi to celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8. The function was attended by women representatives of cooperative organizations and officials of various cooperative organizations.

Speaking on the occasion, NCUI President Dileep Sanghani said that there was a need to make women self-reliant through cooperatives for building up "Aatmanirbhar Bharat". The theme of this year's International Women's Day is "Gender Equality today for a Sustainable Tomorrow". 

Sanghani elaborated that NCUI's recent initiative of setting up the NCUI Haat, which was providing a selling platform for the products of lesser-known cooperatives, was a step towards making women self-reliant. He further said that at a time when India was celebrating 75 years of Independence, the creation of a Ministry of Cooperation with the objective to attain "Prosperity Through Cooperation" was a milestone in the growth of the cooperative movement.

The government's initiatives and steps to strengthen primary agriculture cooperatives will strengthen the cooperative movement in the country, said Sanghani. He said that there was a need to disseminate success cooperatives to women so that they are encouraged to set up successful cooperatives. He also said that NCUI Cooperative Education Field Projects set up by women are empowering them.

Dr Sudhir Mahajan, Chief Executive of NCUI, said in his welcome address that on the occasion of International Women's Day, it was important to recognize the contribution of women and acknowledge their achievements. Amongst the new initiatives taken by NCUI, he said, NCUI Haat was giving a good platform to the lesser-known cooperatives and SHGs to sell their products and get fair prices for their produce.

NCUI Haat in the last 6-7 months has achieved a sale of Rs 1 crore, Mahajan said. He further highlighted the initiatives of NCUI like forming 15 SHGs of 300 women who would be trained at the incubation Centre to be set up by NCUI for enhancing their livelihood.

Dr Bijender Singh, Vice-President of NCUI, said that women in our country should be given top priority not only in the cooperative sector but also in our day-to-day lives.

Earlier, Savitri Singh, Executive Director of NCUI, in her opening remarks elaborated on the theme of this year's International Women's Day and said that NCUI's cooperative education field projects and other steps/initiatives were empowering women in a big way.