According to NCUI vice-president Ghanshyam Amin, green and white revolutions in the farm and dairy sectors respectively had been largely possible in the country due to the co-operative movement. However, there was an urgent need for these institutions to adopt professional management practices espcially to compete with the corporate sector.

He said the new full-time residential course would be in addition to six-month diploma in co-operative management (DCM) already being imparted at 57 training centres in the country, including five in Gujarat, under the supervision of National Council for Co-operative Training (NCCU). A 36-week higher diploma in co-operative management has alsobeen introduced at the four regional centres at Gandhinagar, Chandigarh, Tiruvanthapuram and Lucknow.

Amin, who is also the chairman of Guajart Rajya Sahkari Sangh, told newspersons here on Thursday that Gujarat happenned to be in the forefront of the co-operative movement, having 52,214 primary societies with a membership of 1.10 crores, as against about 3.50 lakh societies with a membership of 19.50 crores in India. India occupied an important position at the global level too, having one million societies with a membership of 700 million.

He said there was an immense scope to develop the co-operative sector had already left its mark in the country in agricultural, industrial, social and in banking, especially in providing advances to the marginal starta of the society through low interest loans.

Presenting the audited results of the Gujarat Sangh for the fiscal year ended March 31, he said that despite severe financial constraints it ended with a surplus of Rs 27.58 lakhs after contributing its shareof Rs 19.76 lakhs to reserve fund.