Dr. JP decries rot in co-op movement

Lok Satta Party national President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan today held the Government, the ruling party and other traditional parties squarely responsible for the sad state of affairs that characterize elections now under way to cooperatives in Andhra Pradesh.

In a media statement, Dr. JP pointed out that traditional parties have resorted to enrolment of nominal and spurious members treating cooperatives as their fiefdoms. The politicization of cooperatives has injected all distortions of general elections like vote buying, auction of positions and ugly practices of kidnappings and violence.

Dr. JP said that contenders in some cases are incurring more expenditure than the cooperatives have in terms of assets. The outcome naturally will be pilferage, plunder and collapse of cooperatives much to the detriment of poor farmers and other members.

Dr. JP recalled that the Lok Satta as a movement and political party had fought along with many cooperative movement stalwarts like Verghese Kurien and M. Rami Reddy to liberate cooperatives from the clutches of the Government and political parties. It was largely as a result of the efforts of the Lok Satta that the 97th amendment to the Constitution incorporating the right to form cooperatives as a fundamental right under Article 19 (1) (c) was carried out.

Underlining that cooperatives are supposed to be self-reliant economic enterprises, Dr. JP appealed to their members to assert their rights and stem the rot in the movement.

Appeal to youth

Dr. JP appealed to youth to realize that suicide is no solution when they are fighting for their future. “Your parents and you have many dreams about your future. You have the right and duty to fulfill your dreams. But suicide or negation of life is not an option,” Dr JP said.

Referring to the continuing suicides in the cause of Telangana, Dr. JP called upon all political parties to ensure that youth do not fall victims of despair and despondency. He once again asked the Union Government to hammer out an amicable and comprehensive solution to the Telangana problem without further delay.