Kerala assembly house demands to ease curbs

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state Assembly passed a substantive motion on Tuesday urging the Centre to ease the restrictions imposed on district cooperative banks and primary cooperative societies in the wake of demonetisation. The motion had the unconditional and wholehearted backing of the UDF members. Nonetheless, the motion was not passed unanimously as BJP’s lone member O. Rajagopal refused support insisting that cooperative banks were being used to sanitise black money. The ‘substantive motion’ urged the Centre to allow district cooperative banks and primary cooperative societies to exchange invalid currency and allow its clients to deposit money like in commercial and nationalised banks.

Moving the motion cooperation minister A.C. Moideen said it was intriguing that district cooperative banks were denied the right to exchange notes even though they were functioning under RBI just like any other banks. Mr Moideen said cooperative banks were not against scrutiny. “Since January this year, cooperatives had agreed to provide records of deposits above Rs 25 lakh, and these are regularly submitted," the minister said. Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, setting the tone for a unified fight, said any weakening of the cooperative sector would hurt farmers. He wanted a strong message to be given out that the money in the cooperative sector was safe.

V.S. Achuthanandan’s was the most rhetorical performance of the day. Calling demonetisation a “crazy move”, he wanted to know whether black money could be curbed by “such a circus”. “How did a tea seller become Ambani’s ambassador," he said. “The cooperative sector is Kerala’s life-breath and lifeblood. To smother it is to smother Kerala," he said. Muslim League’s Dr M.K. Muneer asked why cooperative banks were not allowed to exchange notes when even petrol banks were allowed to do so. CPI’s Mullakkara Ratnakaran had perhaps the most imaginative description of demonetisation. “It is like showing a deep well to a person who had come asking for a glass of water. He can either jump into the well and drown or sit outside and die of thirst.”  

K.M. Mani raised a legal issue saying that cooperative institutions became Constitutional bodies after the 97th amendment. “The activities of cooperative bodies, therefore, cannot be brought to a halt by an executive order," Mr Mani said. K. Krishnan Kutty of Janata Dal (Secular) highlighted the credit crunch faced by milk farmer societies. Taking a dig at the BJP, he said that even the "holy cow" could not be fed. Former minister P.K. Kunhalikutty said that when the Akshaya self-employment scheme was launched during his time no banks were ready to extend help. "Only the cooperative sector was there to help," he said. Kunhalikutty also warned against primary cooperatives coming under RBI norms. "Then all other activities of the cooperatives will stop. It will be just like any other non-banking financial institution," he said.