Himalayan Times (1961)

Six

Himalayan Times April 23, 1961

CO-OPERATIVE MOVEM

32% of the States

About 32 per cent
of the total populatioD of
West Bangui was oovered
by the Co operative mo-
vement daring the year
ending, June 30, 1959.
The number of Coope-
rative Sooietiea of all
types at that time was
19,771 and their member-
ship and working oapital
Btood at 16.98, lakh ami
Rs. 45.69 Orore respecti-
vely.

During the year end-
ing June 30. 1959 the
Co-operative Movement in
Wait Bengal reoorded ap-
preciable progress in the
number of sooieties, mem-
bership, working capital
and the volume of credit
and services provided. It
wan also able to fulfil to
a large extent tbe phy-
sical target* aimed at
under the different scba-
m a in the third year of
the Second li'ive Year
plan for Co-operative De-
velopment.

The total deposits
held by the Movement at
the end of 1958 59 were
Rj 24.2S criire out ot
whioh Rs. 19.08 crore
wai held by the urban
credit aooiotii-s, the finan-
cially strongest seotion of
the movement. In the
in vtter of Co-operative
finanoing tbe State Co-

•NT IN WEST BENGAL

Population Covered

operative Bank, the apex
finanoing institution is
liuked with 30 Central
Co.operative Banks at
district level and 12,808
oredit societies at the
village level. 1'he turn-
over of the State Co-
operative Bank and Cen-
tral Banks were increased
during the year as a re-
sult of strengthening of
their financial position.

Expansion of credit
from Rs. 25.43 crore to
Rs. 26 95 ofore was, ano-
ther notable achievement
in the Held of credit.
Out of the loans of Rs.
26.95 crore during 1958 59,
Rs 2 43 crore was ad-
vanced for seasonal agri
cultural operations and
other various agricultural
purposes as against Rs.
2 27 orore of the previous
year.

The 12,868 primary
Agricultural Credit "-ocie
ties uioluil iug 514 large-
sized credit societies with
5.66 lakh members on the
roll and Rs 361 45 lakh
as working capital also
maintained satisfactory
progress during 1958-514.
The loans issued by them
rose to Rs. 2.27 crore
and of it Rs 19.30 lakh
accounted for medium
teim loans. They have
al.o oovered about 55%

of the villages in the
State and brought within
the co-operative fold 2"%
of the agricultural popu-
lation at the end of tbe
year as against 50 per
cent and 17 per oent
respectively - at the end of
the paevious year.

The West Bengal Cen-
tral Co-operative Land
Mortgage Bank through
its affiliated primaries
continued to provide long-
term agricultural oredit.
With the addition of one
new Primury Land Mort-
age Bank, tbe number of
such banks rose to 12.
These Land Mortage Banks
provided, long-term loans
for improvement of agri
culture to the tune of
Rs. 2 99 lakh during the
year under review.

In the sphere of non-
agricultural credit also i.e ,
the oredit supplied by
urban banks and emplo-
yees' societies, the pro-
gress continued to be sa-
tisfactory Thert were 683
such societies with a
membership of 6 4ti lakh
and an aggregate working
capital ot Rs. 26 56 crore
that issued loans amount,
ing to Rs. 19.27 crore.
The ! 18 Grain Ranks whioh
constitute a special type
of oredit societies of much
significance to tbe tribal
and scheduled caste popu-
lation of the State, with
a membership oi 21,223
and a total working capi-
tal of Ra 6.78 lakb, issued