Delivering Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial IFFCO lecture here, he said, taking everything to the doorstep of farmer is the vision of the cooperative movement of India.
"We have huge population to feed and it can't be dealt with without developing resources and cooperatives. Cooperative and agricultural development are much needed for alleviating hunger and poverty," he said.
At the function, Binny Yagna from Arunachal Pradesh and Sita Ram of Himachal Pradesh, were awarded with Sahakarita Ratna and Sahakarita Bandhu Award respectively.
The vision of Jawaharlal Nehru was to develop rural India and IFFCO is successfully taking this vision forward and bringing upliftment to the living of rural poor and farmers, he said.
"IFFCO is not only producing quality fertilisers but also helping quality development and improving the state of poor and marginal farmers in India," he said.
Agriculture is one of the two sectors that have saved India from recession, he said, adding that we have huge food grain stocks which are feeding millions.
Expressing gratitude towards Nehru, he said, "He could not live forever but he left a powerful legacy. It was Nehru who wanted to make the cooperative movement as the basic activity of India in every village and finally the need to make the cooperative approach common thinking in India."
Speaking at the event U S Awasthi, Managing Director IFFCO said, "Whatever we do, we see whether it is benefiting the farmer. Our efforts have always taken the nation towards prosperity with the help of cooperative movement."
"IFFCO is keeping the flame of cooperative movements alive in India and we have to strengthen this. When we compare our present economic condition to the times of Independence, we see a great change.
"The credit goes to cooperative movement in India," said Sita Ram Chauhan, who was awarded for his efforts to uplift the economic conditions of farmers, women and youth in Himachal Pradesh.
