Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Amit Shah chaired the first meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Cooperation on ‘Initiatives taken and currently being taken to strengthen cooperative societies’ in New Delhi.
The meeting was attended by Union Ministers of State for Cooperation, Krishan Pal and Murlidhar Mohol, Members of the Committee, Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation and senior officers of the Ministry. The committee discussed various issues related to the initiatives taken by the Ministry of Cooperation since its establishment and the current efforts being made to empower cooperative societies.
Addressing the meeting, Shah said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi established a separate Ministry of Cooperation for the welfare of farmers and rural areas across the country and gave the mantra of “Sahkar Se Samriddhi”. He mentioned that the Modi government believes that both employment generation and prosperity of rural areas are possible through cooperation.
Shah said that the cooperative movement was strong in the country for a few years after independence, but later it got weakened in most states. He mentioned that after the formation of the Ministry of Cooperation at the Centre, the first task was to create a database of Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) in collaboration with the states and initiate the process of registering two lakh PACS.
He said that the work to develop the National Cooperative Database is almost complete, and now, information about cooperative societies across the country, categorised by region, is available at one click. Shah said that steps have been taken for the computerization of PACS. He added that in the coming times, there will not be a single panchayat in the country where PACS will not be available.
Union Minister of Cooperation said that the model by-laws created to make PACS ‘viable’ have been adopted by almost all states in the country. He added that PACS have been linked to more than 20 activities and have now started providing services such as Common Service Centres, Jan Aushadhi Kendras, and other services.
Amit Shah said, that it is the endeavour of the government that the cooperative sector gets the same opportunities as the corporate sector.
Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation informed the Consultative Committee that a roadmap has been made for the rapid development of national federations associated with cooperation, in collaboration with Krishak Bharati Cooperative Limited (KRIBHCO), Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO), National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and other federations. He mentioned that currently, PACS are involved in booking railway tickets, and expressed confidence that due to the initiatives of the Ministry of Cooperation, PACS will soon be able to sell airline tickets as well.
Amit Shah said that in view of the regional disparity in the development of cooperatives in the country, the government is taking special steps to bring uniform balanced development in all the states.
In the meeting, the committee members provided their suggestions on issues related to empowering cooperative societies in the country and appreciated the important steps taken by the government to strengthen the cooperative movement in the country.
