The National Organising Committee of Sahakar Bharati (which is a body for promoting cooperatives in various fields) has sought the withdrawal of proposed amendments to Multi-State Cooperative Act.

Speaking to presspersons on the sidelines of the meeting of the committee here on Saturday, Satish Marathe, President of Sahakar Bharati, termed some of the amendments proposed in Multi-State Cooperative Societies Bill 2010 as obnoxious.

(Multi-state cooperatives are those that serve the interests of members in more than one state).

Stating that 19 amendments are proposed in the Bill, he said some of them will have major impact on the multi-state cooperatives. In fact, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture, headed by Basudeb Acharia, had rejected some of the amendments, he said.

Marathe said that the two-day meeting of the committee will also urge the Central Government to scrap the imposition of income-tax on cooperatives. It was proposed by the UPA Government under the Direct Tax Code Bill.

Microfinance regulatory bill

Urging the Government to introduce the Microfinance Development and Regulatory Bill, he said microfinance institutions in the country have hardly been regulated, and some of them charge high interest rates.

Since there is a need to regulate such institutions, the Government should introduce a strong Bill in this regard, he said.

Stressing the need for setting up small local urban cooperative banks across the country, he said no urban cooperative bank has been set up in the country in the past 15 years.

The RBI should announce norms for setting up new urban cooperative banks, he said.

K. Padmanabha, Vice-President of Sahakar Bharati, and President of Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative (Campco) Ltd, was present on the occasion.

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