“Working together seamlessly” Cooperation between Cooperatives and NDDB

Dr. HB Joshi

I was posted at Galbabhai Dairy Co-operative Training Centre, (managed by NDDB), Palanpur, in 1989.

Situated within the Banas Dairy premises this training centre is a beautiful monument of architectural glory with stone masonry at the entrance!

The five acre campus had fragrant rose beds and Mexican lawn in the centre of building creating a perfect ambience for learning !

At this training centre we offered short duration Dairy Farmers Orientation Programmes as well as long duration Programmes on Animal Husbandry, Artificial Insemination and Veterinary First Aid for participant from cooperative milk unions of Gujarat.

I had a vision. It was to make the centre a vibrant place for learning by making the scope of training programmes that were being offered wider by introducing additional activities useful to sponsored trainees who included employees of Banas Dairy as well.

Over time , I was able to build a strong relationship with Banas Dairy Management. This I did by helping and participating in their activities by not keeping even a thin line of separation between Banas Dairy and NDDB.

Once I gained their trust it encouraged me to play a vital role in creating a unique identity for the training centre.

We introduced new training modules such as team building, teamwork, motivation, planning and execution. Such interventions made our programs quite popular. Supervisory and Office Staff from other milk unions of Gujarat used to be sponsored for such programmes.

These program were found useful by the sponsoring organisations and the participants. I used to personally go to the work places of the participants to evaluate the effectiveness of the training programmes.

I started tree plantation program intially in the campus by celebrating Earth Day, World Environment Day etc. in collaboration with the Banas Dairy and Forest Department. Some of the herbal plants in the training centre premises were on verge of extinction therefore we planted new ones.

We also used to organise various functions from time to time and invited Banas Dairy Chairman, Board Members, Officers and Staff. We also invited officials from the Forest Department . Such activities made the training centre popular.

Soon the centre had a lustrous green canopy of herbal plants and trees that attracted people to the visit herbal garden. A leading news paper took notice of it
and published a news article that made centre even more popular.

Organising fun fare and entertainment programmes at periodical interval had an impact on trainees who liked to remain in campus without absence and Banas Colony residents were also charmed by such programmes !

I had a wonderful group of intellectual friends, Doctors, Officers and well known people dignitaries from various walks of life residing in Palanpur. I took their help and periodically organised a number of blood donation camps and health check up campaigns, Aids awareness programme. We organised even a heart and plastic surgery camp that boosted my credential as an organiser of socially beneficial events !

In addition, I played a pivotal role in organising major functions of Banas Dairy like milk days, press conferences, inaugural functions etc. which helped me not only in learning various facets of planning and organising events but also helped me in winning the trust of the Banas Dairy management.

I remember an incident when the Food Minister of US was expected to visit milk unions and the enthusiastic MD of BanasDairy Shri Sangrambhai Chaudhry wanted to display a small US flag near the desk of minister during the meeting.

He called the person who was helm of affairs in Administration to procure the US flag! However ,the Manager showed his helplessness under the pretext that he had to contact US embassy and seek permission to obtain a flag which would be a cumbersome task !

MD then called me to his office and requested me to try to arrange the flag.

My mind started working over and an idea sprung. I decided to contact Handloom House and Khadi Soaps in Ahmedabad. Handloom House response was that they did not have US flags in stock. They told me that they can get the flag by placing an order on the supplier but it may take a week.

I enquired whether they have any sample lying with them . And to my surprise they had samples but not for sale! .I explained the urgency and pleaded with them to help me as the event at Banas Dairy was a very important.

I requested them to sell the sample flag to us as the situation was exceptional ! After a pause , there was a response and they said to send representative and pay Rs.88 for the same this was done !

I conveyed the news to MD and he was quite flabbergasted with the quick action taken by me and that perhaps was the point in time when we became good friends.

He would more than often ask me to help out on such occasions. My public relations abilities touched the hearts of Banas Dairy Management and they found that during my stay at GDCTC, Palanpur my contributions were of use and they felt at ease while organising events.

I must make a special mention of the magnanimity shown by NDDB management and my bosses, initially Dr SP Mital and later Shri Shailendra Kumar who always encouraged me and allowed me a free hand to me to work at the training centre. It was a vital factor in development of GDCTC as a training centre of excellence and my own personal growth !

I learned the essence of Cooperation “working together seamlessly” as evident during my time at GDCTC from “Cooperation between Cooperatives and NDDB” .

At the same time, I learned lessons in being creative, proactive for developing and sustaining a positive self-worth and succeed meeting challenges with head above shoulders !

Credit, unequivocally goes to my esteemed organisation NDDB.