Centre should change its attitude towards cooperative banks: Sharad Pawar
Pune (PTI): Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar has said that the Union government must change its attitude towards cooperative banks and support them because they serve the common people.
There is a misconception that irregularities largely take place in cooperative banks, the former Union agriculture minister said at a function here on Thursday.
Pawar was speaking at the closing ceremony of the golden jubilee of Vishweshwar Cooperative Bank Ltd.
Nationalised and scheduled banks in the country account for more than 90 per cent of irregularities whereas cooperative sector banks account for only 0.46 per cent irregularities, he said.
"I get worried when I see how the cooperative bank sector is being looked at. The Union government has invested heavily in nationalised banks. It had to be done because if money had not been infused, the health of these banks would have deteriorated," he said.
"Generally, there is a misconception that people in the cooperative sector are involved in wrongful practices....there are irregularities in the cooperative sector but if you look at the overall percentage of irregularities, you will realize that the percentage of irregularities in the nationalised and scheduled banks is 92 per cent and the percentage of irregularities in the cooperative sector is hardly .43 per cent. Not even one per cent," Pawar claimed.
Cooperative banks safeguard the interest of the common people, he added.
"Therefore, the (Union government's) perspective towards cooperative sector banks should change.... if these banks face any kind of crisis, we should stand by these banks," he said.
Maharashtra, which leads in the number of cooperative banks and is followed by Gujarat and Karnataka, has a unique position in the cooperative movement in the country, Pawar noted.
In the past, the NCP chief had opposed amendments to the Banking Regulation Act which allowed the Reserve Bank of India to regulate cooperative banks.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
