Microfinance Focus, August 6, 2011: Smt. Shashi Rekha Rajagopalan, an ardent fighter  for co-operative system in India expired on Friday morning in Hyderabad. She was 60 and leaves behind her mother and other family members. She was a member of the Central Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank of India, and a member of the Board for Financial Services constituted by the Reserve Bank Board. She was also a member of the Malegam Committee set up to study how microfinance institutions should be regulated.

Condoling the sad demise of Smt. Rajagopalan, Dr. D Subbarao, Governor, Reserve Bank of India said, “Shashi's death is an irreplaceable loss for the entire RBI family. The RBI Board benefitted enormously from her deep knowledge of the frontline credit delivery systems of the country, her strong sense of conviction and above all her compassion for the less privileged. She is truly one of the millions of unsung heroes of our country.”

Born on July 21, 1951 in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, Smt. Rajagopalan was a B.Sc. (Hons) in Mathematics from Calcutta University. She categorised her work in four broad phases. In the first phase, between 1970 and 1975 she served as a volunteer with Service Civil International, an international pacifist organisation working against conscription. She worked closely with disadvantaged communities, living in conditions and with income similar to them. During the second phase between 1975 and 1977, she served Hyderabad Archdiocese Social Service Society and worked on maternal and child health centres.

In the third phase between 1978 and 1998, Smt. Rajagopalan worked with Cooperative Development Foundation and its associate organisations and worked on advocacy for change in cooperative law, management of a revolving fund for the promotion of cooperative (non-financial) businesses and design and promotion of new types of cooperatives. The fourth phase of her worklife as a freelance consultant started in January 1999 when she took various assignments focussing on studies, training and drafting manuscripts for publication on the subject of savings and credit cooperatives.

Smt. Rajagopalan was a member on the Brahm Perkash Committee constituted by the Planning Commission in 1989, the first of a series of initiatives that led to reforms in cooperative law. She also worked closely with the Government in Andhra Pradesh on the AP Mutually Aided Cooperative Societies Act, 1995. The Governments of Bihar, Punjab, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, and Orissa, too, had invited her to help reform cooperative law. The International Labour Organisation had invited her to Geneva, to participate as a member of an Expert Committee to review Recommendation 127 on cooperatives,