Mangaluru: When other countries achieve 70-75% in agriculture food processing, India is still at 20%. By increasing the amount of food processing through cooperation mode, thousands of youth can get a job in their villages, said Reserve Bank of India Director Satish Marathe.

In his keynote address during the inaugurals of a two-day national seminar on “Indian economy in transition: Prospects and challenges of cooperatives” in University College Mangaluru on Wednesday, he opined that there are more than 65,000 cooperatives are in running profitably in the country. Profit can be done by extension and proper planning in cooperative mode.

In his inaugural address, Mangalore University Registrar Prof. A M Khan said that growing together policy of the cooperative sector can boost the Indian economy in this stage. Recalling the white revolution and green revolution, he said that cooperative policies should help downtrodden and corporate style doesn’t suit to this sector.

CAMPCO President S R Sathishchandra opined that cooperative policy is nothing but a lifestyle and the primary cooperative system is like the cradle of democracy. With the help of green, white and knowledge revolution, India has turned to become a superpower in the world.

Sahakara Bharathi National General Secretary Udaya Vasudeva Joshi informed us that there are around 25 crore cooperatives in India. It should help in the sustainable development of downtrodden, he said. Vishwakarma Cooperative Bank Limited President Harish Achar and Principal Dr. Uday Kumar M A hailed the success and benefits of the cooperative policy and wanted more research on that.

SCDCC Bank CEO Ravindra B was present. Department of PG studies in Economics Coordinator Dr. Jayavantha Nayak, University Evening College Principal and MUEA President Dr. Ramakrishna BM were present among others. Shama mastered the ceremony.