Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday launched youth cooperative societies to promote entrepreneurship as part of the State government’s 100-day action plan.
As many as 27 co-operative societies were launched with young men and women between the ages of 18 and 45 as their members. Inaugurating the event through video conference, Mr.Vijayan said that the youth cooperative societies are part of various initiatives of the LDF government to fulfill its election promise of providing jobs to youths.
“Kerala has had several successful experiments in the cooperative sector, that have been noted across the country.
The youth cooperatives will become one such experiment. By revitalising the cooperative sector, we can achieve high growth in agriculture and other sectors. Since they work at the local level, these youth cooperatives will contribute to the all-round growth of the region,” he said.
He said that it should be ensured in the by-law of the youth cooperatives that the a person who crosses the age of 45 ceases to be a member, so that the youthful character of the cooperatives are maintained.
Cooperatives in the fisheries sector will be used to train people in deep sea fishing. Cooperatives of non-resident Keralites can be used to generate jobs for educated youth. The procurement of vegetables by providing a minimum support price is being carried out through cooperatives. This will be extended to coconut procurement too, said Mr.Vijayan.
The State-level inauguration was organised at the launch of the Vattiyurkavu Youth Brigade Entrepreneurs' Cooperative Society, led by V.K.Prasanth, MLA.
Minister for Cooperation V.N.Vasavan presided over the function, in the presence of Ministers V.Sivankutty, G.R.Anil and Antony Raju.
Mr.Vasavan inaugurated the Vybe cooperative society's office.
The cooperative, which began as a youth volunteer collective under the MLA, has now formed different groups to handle green initiatives, products, mobile-based service delivery, health initiatives, media, academics and IT.
The sales of the products division's Vybe brand t-shirt was inaugurated at the event.
