Vijayawada, Nov 23 (Bureau) Andhra Pradesh Governor Biswa Bhushan Harichandan said that the Cooperative societies play a crucial role in strengthening rural economy and in ensuring socio-economic development of the country in an inclusive and sustainable manner. Participating at the Convocation of Vaikunth Mehta National Institute for Cooperative Management (VAMNICOM), Pune, Maharashtra through video link from Raj Bhavan here on Monday, the Governor said Cooperative Movement acts as an enabler to unify local human resources and channelize energies for the growth of rural India and with more than 8 lakh cooperatives, they have a significant presence in all the areas of socio-economic activities. The Governor said that dairy cooperatives have ushered in milk revolution in the country making AMUL a household name and institutions like IFFCO, KRIBHCO, and AMUL have become big success stories in the cooperative sector besides a large number urban cooperative banks, primary agriculture cooperative societies, housing, fishery at State-level which are contributing to improve the socio-economic conditions of the people in the rural areas.
The Governor said that the Institute has been providing active support and guidance to 14 state-level Institutes of Cooperative Management (ICMs) and five Regional Institutes of Co-operative Management (RICMs) through Faculty Development Programmes and training on Agricultural Banking. “Agri-business is an important sector and there is a need for a large pool of skilled manpower at managerial, supervisory and worker level to give a boost to this sector and institutions like the VAMNICOM must become facilitators”, he said. The Governor complimented the Institute for its pioneering role in the area of Agri-Business Management by offering a two-year fully residential Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) – Agri-Business Management (ABM) leading to the award of a degree equivalent to MBA. The Governor presented medals to top three rank holders in the PG Diploma in Management – Agri-business Management programme. Dr. K.K. Tripathy, Director, VAMNICOM, Dr. D. Ravi, Joint Programme Director, Sri Mukesh Kumar Meena, Secretary to Governor and officers of Raj Bhavan have also attended the Convocation programme.