World Cooperation Economic Forum is targeting to establish 500 campus cooperatives in universities across the country to attract youth to this movement.

According to a statement on Saturday, World Cooperation Economic Forum (WCopEF), along with the National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI) and Confederation of NGOs of Rural India (CNRI), will work to establish and promote ‘Campus Cooperative’ across various universities in the country.

Under the new initiative, the forum said that it is planning to set up a ‘Campus Cooperative’ at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in the national capital.

“There is a much greater emphasis on the cooperative sector across the country, but the participation of youths holds the key to taking the movement forward,” Dileep Sanghani, Founder of WCopEF, said.

“Campus Cooperative could just be the right approach to attract talented youths to the sector and propel it to greater heights,” said Sanghani, who is also the Chairman of IFFCO, and President of NCUI.

Binod Anand, Executive President of WCopEF, said, “The whole idea behind the move is to make university campuses self-sufficient as much as possible.”

The campus cooperatives can play a huge role in fulfilling the requirements of students for various products, including food items.

“While it will provide an opportunity for students to learn the skills of businesses as well as leadership, it will also provide direct access to farmers by eliminating middlemen,” said Anand, who is also a member of the government-constituted panel to strengthen the minimum support price (MSP) system.

Leading cooperative sector experts have come together to form the WCopEF, which endeavours to promote cooperative movement.

The forum would also raise issues and concerns of the sector with the governments and other stakeholders around the globe.