Days after creating the Union Ministry of Cooperation, its Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said the Centre will soon come out with a new cooperative policy and work in tandem with States to strengthen the cooperative movement to ensure that they play a crucial role in making India a USD 5 trillion economy.
Addressing the ‘National Cooperative Conference’, Shah said, “This is the 75th year of India’s independence, therefore, as a part of the Amrut Mahotsava, we will begin drafting the new cooperative policy.”
The existing National Policy on Cooperatives was introduced by the then NDA Government in March 2002.
The National Cooperative Conference is the biggest event since the formation of the Ministry of Cooperation on July 6 2021. It was organised by various cooperative organisations, including the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO), National Cooperative Federation of India, Amul, Sahakar Bharti, NAFED and KRIBHCO.
Sharing plans of his Ministry, Shah also announced that the Centre will soon amend the Multi-State Co-operative Societies Act, 2002 to facilitate the functioning of the multi-state cooperative societies.
Observing that 63,000 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) are not sufficient to cater the needs of six lakh villages, Shah said, “We will set a target to establish a PACS in every second village in the coming five years. To increase the number of PACS from 65,000 to 3 lakh, the Ministry of Cooperation will prepare a proper legal framework that will be advisory in nature. We will send it to the State Governments. States can make changes in their laws.”
Shah also sought to dispel apprehensions about the creation of the Ministry of Cooperation.
He said, “Many people say that this is a state subject. I don’t want to get into the Centre-state fight, a legal answer can be given easily. I only want to say that the Ministry of Cooperation, formed under the leadership of Modi ji, is not to fight with anyone but to cooperate with all the states.
“Therefore, there is no need to think whether it is a state subject or a central subject. We can help everyone; we will also help the states. we will take everyone along and will take the movement forward,” he said. Shah, who is also the Union Home Minister, also announced that the number of primary agriculture cooperative societies (PACs) will be increased to 3 lakh in the next five years. Shah said that today there is a need to set up a National Cooperative University.
He also said that cooperatives make an important contribution to the country’s development and the cooperative movement has to be taken forward by imbibing the spirit of cooperation in work
The path of development of crores of farmers, the deprived, the Backward, Dalits, the poor, the neglected and women can only take place through cooperation, said the Minister.