Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called for the formation of multi-faceted village co-operative societies to eradicate poverty. The Prime Minister said, "It has been tested that if we can build multi-purpose village cooperatives, there will be no poverty in Bangladesh." Poverty will be completely eradicated. We can do that. '
At the same time, she called upon the women to come forward in the field of cooperatives and the cooperatives to fulfill their responsibilities with more sincerity.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said this while addressing the 49th National Cooperative Day 2020 celebrations and National Cooperative Awards 2019 as the chief guest on Saturday (November 7) morning.
The Prime Minister participated in the main event held at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center via video conference.
The Prime Minister said the number of co-operative societies and co-operatives is increasing day by day due to the efforts of her government and at present the number of co-operative societies is 1 lakh 90 thousand 534 and the number of its members has increased to 1 crore 14 lakh 63 thousand 648.
At present, only 23 per cent of the total members of the co-operatives are women, so the Prime Minister called for increasing the involvement of women in co-operative activities.
"I think more women should come forward in cooperative activities," she said because half of the society is women. If women come forward more, corruption will be less and work will be more and every family will be benefitted. '
Sheikh Hasina further said, "Therefore, I urge the women to come forward."
She added, "Therefore, I would like to request those who are involved in the cooperative - you should work sincerely and responsibly without expecting big profits so that it becomes a big, sustainable, productive and profitable organization." So that everyone gets their share of the profits. '
He said, "It's not just about eating alone, it's about eating with everyone, eating with everyone, working with everyone. The idea is that cooperatives need it the most." That's what we want you to do. '
The Prime Minister said, ‘Everyone who is a co-operative has a big role to play here. You will continue to work in service so that we can build Bangladesh as free from hunger and poverty. '
LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Tajul Islam and State Minister Swapan Bhattacharya distributed the Cooperative Award 2019 among the winners on behalf of the Prime Minister.
Secretary of the Ministry Rezaul Ahsan delivered the welcome speech. A video documentary was also aired on the occasion highlighting the development of the country's cooperative sector. The Prime Minister also unveiled the cover of a book titled 'Building Success of Cooperatives' published by the Department of Cooperatives.
The Prime Minister said, "We were achieving our growth of over 8 percent." I have reduced the poverty rate from 40 to 20.5 percent. We have raised the per capita income to 2064 dollars. Maybe I could have done better if it hadn't happened.
She re-warned everyone about the increasing incidence of coronavirus with the onset of winter at this time and called for following health rules. She also reiterated her call to keep oneself and others safe so that no one goes out of the house without a mask.
Sheikh Hasina said her government adopted 'My House, My Farm Project' in 2009. At present, 1 lakh 21 thousand 142 cooperative societies have been formed under this project, through which 56 lakh 41 thousand families have benefited.
Referring to the steps taken by the government for more development and for the common man, she said, "We have implemented 'Cooperative Based Milk Production Ensuring Project' and 'Poverty Reduction Project for Greater Faridpur, Barisal and Khulna Districts by Expanding Dairy Cooperative Activities'." Through Milk Vita, we have set up a dairy factory in Sirajganj for cow feed production, a powdered milk factory and an artificial breeding center for buffaloes.
Sheikh Hasina said, "As a result of various initiatives taken by our government for almost twelve consecutive years, many visible changes have taken place in the rural areas of the country along with economic development."