Sansthapak Lakshmanrao Inamdar
Swargiya Laxmanrao Inamdar was born on 21st September, 1917 on the day of Rishipanchami. He had seven brothers, of whom he was third, and two sisters. He hailed from Satara Dist. of Maharashtra and he was a practicing lawyer by profession. He visualized a value based and ethical Co-operative movement for rapid, sustainable & equitable growth of the Country. He was the chief motivational force in the formation of Sahakar Bharati in 1978.
Lakshmanrao Inamdar, popularly known as Vakil Saheb, was one of the early Pracharaks of RSS in Gujarat. He is credited with inducting Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Bal Swayamsevak in RSS. Vakil Saheb is credited with shaping Narendra Modi’s career and shared a special bond. Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of a 2013 biography of Modi says, “I haven’t seen this kind of reverence in Modi for anyone, living or dead.”
He passed away at the age of 67 in Pune, Maharashtra. During the last 5 years of his life he extensively traveled all over the country to acquaint himself with the co-operative movement in different parts and sowed the seeds of Sahakar Bharati which has now grown into an all India organization operating in all States and with a network of Cooperators & Cooperatives in over 400 Districts. Presently, more than 20,000 Cooperative institutions are linked to Sahakar Bharati.
Late Laxmanrao Inamdar Awards
The 1st Man Laxmanrao Inamdar Award was conferred on Shri Dipok Kumar Barthakur of Guwahati. He was felicitated at the hands of RSS Sarsanghchalak Dr. Mohanji Bhagwat at the 4th National Conference held at Bengluru on 18-19 Jan, 2013. Others in the picture (L to R) Anant Kumar, Union Minister & Jagdish Shettar, then CM of Karnataka.
Shri Jethabhai Patel, Chairman of GCMMF (AMUL) is the 2nd recipient of Man Laxmanrao Inamdar Award, instituted by Sahakar Bharati. The award will be conferred on him in the 5th National Conference of Sahakar Bharati at Ahmedabad. Shri Jethbhai’s profile is as follows – Shri Jethabhai is the Chairman of GCMMF (AMUL). He is also Chairman of the Sabarkantha Milk Union (Sabar Dairy), a post he has held since 2010. Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF), is India’s largest food product marketing organization with annual turnover (2014-15) US$ 3.4 billion. Its daily milk procurement is approx 14.85 million liters per day from 18,536 village milk cooperative societies, 17 member unions covering 31 districts, and 3.37 million milk producer members. It is the apex organization of the Dairy Cooperatives of Gujarat, popularly known as ‘AMUL’, which aims to provide remunerative returns to the farmers and also serve the interests of consumers by providing quality products which are good value for money. Its success has not only been emulated in India but serves as a model for rest of the World. It is exclusive marketing organization of ‘Amul’ and ‘Sagar’ branded products. Shri. Jethabhai is the Vice-President of Sahakar Bharati Gujarat State. He has been actively associated with BJP. He holds various important positions viz. President of Bhurabhai Patel Dairy Research & Development Association, Chairman of Agriculture Produce Market Committee, Director of National Dairy Development Board, National Cooperative Development Cooperation, New Delhi, President of Himatnagar Transport Association, Chairman of The Jamla Dudh Utpadak Sahakari Mandali & many more in various Cooperative institutions.
Dr U S Awasthi born on 12 th July, 1945 at Uttar Pradesh, graduated in Chemical Engineering from Banaras Hindu University in 1967. He has been working as the Managing Director of Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd. (IFFCO) since February 1993.
A visionary and true envoy of masses, he commands a leadership not merely in Indian Fertilizer Industry but is a respected name in Global fertilizer world. IFFCO under his dynamic leadership has achieved laurels, where 55 million families are reaping the benefits of toil of
Dr Awasthi, year after year for last two and half decade. He has never failed to provide them return on their investment in IFFCO.
The thick and thins of economy has not affected his resolve to do better than previous year. He is the tallest cooperative leader and no less a corporate head, a rural economist, an accomplished technocrat and above all a messiah for rural farmers.
Under his visionary leadership, IFFCO climbed to 43 rd position in the list of Fortune India 500 companies, the only cooperative to be featured amongst top 100 companies in this list. IFFCO is at 8 th position in the list of Business Standard (BS) 1000 companies.