BSS :
The 50th National Cooperatives Day will be observed in the country today under the auspices of the Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Ministry.
The theme of day this year is ‘Philosophy of Bangabandhu, Development in Cooperatives’.
President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday issued separate messages greeting all co-operators on the eve of the day.
President Abdul Hamid, in his message, said that the cooperatives are playing important roles in women empowerment, including rural poverty alleviation, new employment generation, marketing the commodities and ensuring fair price of the goods.
Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had recognized the cooperatives as one of the best weapons for the development, said the President.
He (Bangabandhu) had also dreamt of a pro-people cooperatives movement for improving the fate of the poor and under-privileged people, Abdul Hamid added.
The President urged all people to be more active and sincere to make the cooperatives activities more vibrant, active and time-befitting in order to turn Bangladesh into a prosperous nation.
Highlighting different aspects of the cooperatives, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said, in her message, that the cooperatives are playing important roles in the socio-economic development of the country.
The premier said one of the development philosophies of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was ‘cooperatives’.
She added that at present, there are about 1 lakh 96 thousand cooperative societies in the country, of which about 1 crore 17 lakh are individual members.
The ‘cooperative’ is playing an important role in agriculture, fish farming, animal husbandry, milk production, meeting nutritional needs, transportation, small business, housing, women’s empowerment and improving the living standards of the underprivileged, she said.
In Mujib Year, the government has started the work of making ‘Bangabandhu Model Village’ in the light of the Father of the Nation’s people-oriented cooperative thinking, she said, adding that initially, a total of 5,000 people from 10 villages in nine districts of the country will benefit from this project.
The project will play a role in increasing rural income, creating employment, improving rural living opportunities through infrastructure development and reducing the flow of city-bound people from villages, the premier hoped.
In order to meet the nutritional needs of the people of the country, the dairy industry development project called ‘Cooperative Dairy Project’ was taken in 1973 to set up milk processing factories in five milk producing areas, she said.
Today’s ‘Milk Vita’ is the product of Bangabandhu far-reaching initiatives, she continued.
Following the footsteps of the father of the nation, the Awami League government is working to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and build a developed Bangladesh by 2041, she said.
“With the joint efforts of all, we will be able to build the ‘Sonar Bangla’ of Bangabandhu which will be free from hunger and poverty,” Sheikh Hasina added.
The day will be observed by holding of different programmes. The Department of Cooperatives has chalked out elaborate programmes to observe the day in a befitting manner.
The day will also be observed at upazila, district and divisional levels in a befitting manner.
