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Cooperative Mafias attack honest official

Ajay Jha — Sat, 19 May 2012 17:16:32 +0000

Some armed criminals hit an honest cooperative official on his head with a rod with the express intention of killing him in Bangalore, according to local police.

S.P.Mahantesh , deputy director working in the department of cooperative audit is seriously injured and being kept on life support system in a hospital in the city.

Sources say most of the cooperative societies are synonymous with graft and fraudulent activities. The Mafiosi controlling them are so powerful that they can go to any extent to get rid of the people who are exposing them. .

Mahantesh has recently been involved in exposing scandals in several cooperative societies including the BEML Employees Cooperative Society.

There have recently been reports that several housing cooperative societies have been indulging in serious irregularities and corrupt practices. The murderous attack on auditor Mahantesh needs to be viewed against this background.

The directorate of co-operative audit, where Mahantesh worked, looks beyond routine audit of societies and probes administrative lapses, deviation from bylaws and discharge of responsibilities by boards. Mahantesh is in charge of auditing documents of several housing co-operative societies which have allegedly broken rules in site allotments.

In another incident a director of a cooperative bank was killed by unidentified men in Chakra village in Western Uttar Pradesh, according to the police. Police is investigating the matter and is at work trying to nab the criminals.

UCB favours its Directors with loans

Ajay Jha — Sat, 19 May 2012 17:14:47 +0000

According to knowledgeable sources, the RBI has slapped a huge fine on a Delhi based National Urban Cooperative Bank for sanctioning loans in an irregular manner.

The Bank flouted the guidelines laid down by the apex bank by favouring its own directors and their relatives and favourite firms with loans.

When the apex bank came to know of it, sought explanation from the bank and immediately dismissed from consideration the bank’s explanation as irrelevant.

Bihar: Need to streamline fertilizer distribution

Ajay Jha — Sat, 19 May 2012 17:12:38 +0000

As the private traders are responsible for the distribution of fertilizer in Bihar, farmers keep facing shortage of it at regular intervals.

It is against this backdrop that Union Additional Agriculture Secretary has called upon the Bihar government to set up a body modeled on Haryana State Cooperative and Marketing Federation to ensure a reliable and timely supply of the essential commodity to farmers.

Union Additional Secretary added there is tremendous scope for development in agriculture in Bihar and the state would well to study the working of the cooperative organizations in Haryana and Punjab and do things in the same way these states have done.

Some commentators say Bihar is fast emerging as a state that may considerably contribute to the second green revolution that is on the cards in the eastern region of the country.

Fair Trade USA and Partners Deliver Record Impact to Farmers in 2011

JennaLarson — Fri, 18 May 2012 17:34:44 +0000

Fair Trade USA, a non-profit organization and the leading third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in the United States, recently released its 2011 Almanac, an annual publication which provides detailed information on the supply and impact of Fair Trade Certified products. According to the Almanac, in 2011 farmers and farm workers earned almost $22 million in community development premiums, up over 50 percent from 2010. Farmers and workers have democratically elected to invest these premiums in projects which improve their communities, improve the health of their environment and improve the quality of their products.

Jacques Attali: less austerity and isolation, more economic growth

Lyne Gagnon — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:06:00 +0000

“The world is set for incredible economic growth, but to achieve it, countries must not close themselves off from one another.” This was Jacques Attali’s message in a speech he made on May 15 in Montreal*.

Jacques Attali, who will also speak at the International Summit of Cooperatives on October 11 in Quebec City, is considered one of the 100 greatest intellectuals in the world.

Addressing the members of the French Chamber of Commerce in Canada, Mr. Attali talked about what he calls the geopolitics of the post-financial crisis.

According to Mr. Attali, “There needs to be more growth and less austerity; we need to use public capital to leverage private capital for infrastructure, health and education (…). We need social justice and we need to tax wealth handed down, not income and business owners.”

Avoiding isolation
The greatest threat to economic growth, according to Mr. Attali, is isolation and the resulting consequences.

“We’re already seeing social and political withdrawal, especially in the West: we’re seeing the rich close themselves off from the poor, and refuse to show solidarity with them. It’s a me-first mentality,” he says.

“Even though the world has every chance of success, there could be chaos between civilized nations and non-state entities,” he added. “There is also the threat of countries closing themselves off from one another, which is what happened in 1907.”

At that time, technological progress promoted optimism and democracy, even in Russia. But the economic crisis, combined with the collapse of the British Empire, paved the way for the emergence of leaders, such as Lenin, and later, Hitler, who advocated withdrawal and isolation. The rest is history.”

Jacques Attali is also concerned about countries that are delaying their decline by taking on more debt. “Instead of reducing their debt, they continue to take on more. They’re like alcoholics who go to AA meetings to quit drinking and then congratulate themselves by having a celebratory drink,” he said.

A federal European state
At the same time, Jacques Attali advocates for what he calls self-interested altruism among countries.

“Countries are so dependent on one another that it’s in their interest for their partner countries to do better, because that means they’ll do better, too. That’s certainly true for Germany, which will benefit if Greece stays in the euro zone,” he says.

In that regard, Jacques Attali says it’s imperative to create a federal European state.

“Right now, the euro zone is still only an economic union. But it can’t survive if there isn’t eventually a political union,” he argues. “We need a federal European state. In this respect, Europe is a laboratory for the world, since the world needs to federate to make sure that countries respect the rules of law.”

“Without federal rule of law, each country can interpret laws for their own advantage. That’s why a single currency can’t work without a federal state,” said Mr. Attali.

* Jacques Attali (in photo) was invited to speak by the French Chamber of Commerce in Canada (Montreal) and the International Financial Centre of Montréal.

Photo credit: © Bénédicte Brocard / photoatwork.com

Co-ops Featured as Innovative Model in Fast Company

AnthonyMurray — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:22:01 +0000

Courtesy of Fast Company, the world's leading progressive business media brand, with a unique editorial focus on innovation in technology, ethonomics (ethical economics), leadership, and design.
Hippie Capitalism: How An Impoverished U.S. City Is Building An Economy On Co-ops

With sky-high unemployment, Richmond, California, is not a place where traditional business models alone can dent poverty. The city has turned to co-ops in hopes that people who might be unemployable in the traditional economy gain access to both jobs and control over their own labor.

At the height of the recession, the unemployment rate in Richmond, Calif., topped out at a dismal 19%. That figure has more recently crept down about three points, an improvement that might be worth celebrating if the city didn’t still have so far to go.

City councilman Tom Butt deadpans that Richmond, a city of about 100,000 people in the San Francisco Bay Area just north of Oakland, is a place with “more than the usual number of socioeconomic challenges.” A large share of the immigrant population doesn’t speak English. Crime is high--Richmond is regularly ranked among the most dangerous cities in the country--meaning local residents who’ve gone through the criminal justice system have even rougher odds of landing a job. This is not, in other words, a place where traditional business models alone can dent poverty.

“There’s not a lot of help coming from the federal government, or the state government,” says the city’s Green Party mayor, Gayle McLaughlin. “So we’re...

Hippie Capitalism: How An Impoverished U.S. City Is Building An Economy On Co-ops | Fast Company

Ushahidi - connecting information across the world

AnthonyMurray — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:14:34 +0000

Ushahidi has helped to connect people from across the world and reported on conflicts, earthquakes and created a network of information for citizens.

Wake up and start co-creating - Birgitta Jónsdóttir at FutureEverything

Emily Barker — Fri, 18 May 2012 10:41:35 +0000

Birgitta Jónsdóttir praised co-operatives in a speech about direct democracy at the FutureEverything conference today.

Calling all fisheries co-operatives

AnthonyMurray — Fri, 18 May 2012 09:53:03 +0000

There are thousands of fisheries co-operatives around the world creating sustainable communities.

Next week the International Co-operative Alliance and EURICSE will highlight these co-ops on the stories.coop website - and the role they play in building a better world. If your co-op has a great story to tell do involved and visit stories.coop and perhaps your fisheries co-op will be our Story of the Day!

fairtrade: We are proud to see our wine on sale here today,...

AnthonyMurray — Fri, 18 May 2012 09:30:47 +0000

fairtrade:

We are proud to see our wine on sale here today, and soon it will be available in countries like the UK and Japan. Thanks to Fairtrade certification we can reach new markets and have a sustainable crop that brings new hope to our region.

Chehade Maalouf, member of Coteaux d’Heliopolis cooperative who recently became Fairtrade certified. Here he is pictured at the Fairtrade Brunch for World Fair Trade Day in Beirut (top photo, far left) and at his home village in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon.

Chiraz Skhiri from our producer relations team (pictured, centre) supported Heliopolis through the certification process, in partnership with Fair Trade Lebanon. To find out more about our services to producers, click here.

More about our visit to Heliopolis coming soon!