Union Minister of Home and Cooperation Shri Amit Shah addressed National Conference on Cooperative Policy in New Delhi today

July 6, 2021 is important day for cooperative sector as long pending demand of the sector was recognized through the creation of Ministry of Cooperation under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi

Shri Modi has set the goal of ‘Sahakar Se Samriddhi’ for cooperative sector

Cooperatives played a huge roleIn creating an economic model for rural development and providing employment to the poor people, so that they can live a dignified life

Every village in developed states must have PACS, milk cooperative markets, credit societies or cooperative banks, and there should be no area where cooperatives cannot reach

Aspire to take developed states towards saturation, develop the developing states and to create a strategy to take backward states directly into the category of developed states

If we are able to do this, then in the coming 20-25 years we can take the cooperative sector to  new heights and we can create a situation where the cooperative sector would have a large share innational development

Equitable distribution of profits can be done only by cooperatives, profits go to stakeholders and expenditure on management is minimal, this can happen only through cooperatives

A very large part of the country that  is economically backward, cooperative is the only model that can make 80 crore people financially prosperous

We have to prepare the cooperative movement for the challenges of the present, remove stagnation, bring changes and transparency, only then small farmers will have increased trust in cooperatives

Democratic values ​​as per the law have to be accepted in elections in cooperatives,it is only then that possibilities will have an environment to grow, no region can progress without possibilities

We have to accept professionalism and embrace corporate governance principles with a cooperative spirit

There are many models like IFFCO, Amul which have also kept the spirit of cooperative intact while following the footsteps of corporate governance

There are about 8.55 lakh cooperatives today, 1.77 lakh are credit societies, another 7 lakh are cooperative societies, 17 national level cooperative unions, 33 state cooperative banks, there are more than 63,000 active PACS and more than 12 crore members and around 91 percent villages have presence of cooperatives

The impediments have to be removed by developing new provisions, new policy and harmonization and this can happen only if a co-operative policy is developed to meet today’s needs in a holistic manner

A complete updated cooperative policy that will address the needs of the sector from PACS to APACS will be placed before the nation in 8-9 months and will help to create an environment in which cooperatives can expand

In this, new dimensions and areas can be connected only with the spirit of TEAM, which means: T for Transparency, E for Empowerment, A  forAatmanirbhar and M  for Modernization

Computerization of the cooperative sector along with modernization and professionalism will also have to be brought into the working of large cooperative societies

Free registration, transparency, coordination in cooperatives, effort to bring equality through dialogue between the laws of the states, exploring new dimensions, reaching every village, creating credit societies, doubling farmers’ incomes and provisions of making cooperative institutions financially strong  will be incorporatedin new Cooperation Policy

A perfect and suitable cooperative policy has to be developed, only then can we make the more than the expected contribution to the national economy, to realise the Prime Minister Shri NarendaModi’s vision of achieving a US $ 5 trillion economy and doubling farmers’ income

A new policy will be developed as the end result of  the brainstorming at this two-day discussion

Having bottom to top approach and including suggestions coming from rural milk producer societies and PACS can only create an equitable and all-encompassing cooperative policy in accordance to the needs of the present

We will be able to fulfill the expectations from the cooperative sector that Prime Minister Shri NarendraModihas placed on it and the sector will definitely become the third model of economic development

 

Union Minister of Home and Cooperation Minister Shri Amit Shah addressed the National Conference on Cooperative Policy in New Delhi today. Minister of State for Cooperation, Shri B.L.Verma and SecretaryMinistry of Cooperation, Shri Devendra Kumar Singh were amongst several other dignitaries present at the event.

On this occasion, Union Home and Cooperation Minister said that this two day seminar has been organized to discuss the new cooperative policy. July 6, 2021 is important day for cooperative sector as long pending demand of the sector was recognized through the creation of Ministry of Cooperation under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri NarendraModi. Shri Modi has set the goal of ‘Sahakar Se Samriddhi’ for the cooperative sector. He said that the concept of cooperatives is centuries old in India. In India, work on the principles of cooperation has been taking place in every sector. As per the law, cooperatives have been in India for the past 100 to 125 years. Cooperatives played a very big role In creating an economic model for rural development and providing employment to the poor people, so that they can live a dignified life.

Shri Amit Shah said that immediately after independence, especially with the efforts of Sardar Patel, the cooperative movement received a big boost. But in the course of time, it was observed that since about the 1960 and 1970s, there has been a stagnation in the cooperative movement and also a decline. This decline was seen in many states.Every village in developed states must have PACS, milk cooperative markets, credit societies or cooperative banks, and there should be no area where cooperatives cannot reach.Aspire to take developed states towards saturation, develop the developing states and to create a strategy to take backward states directly into the category of developed states.

The Union Minister for Cooperation said equitable distribution of profits can be done only by cooperatives, profits go to stakeholders and expenditure on management is minimal, this can happen only through cooperativesA very large part of the country that  is economically backward, cooperative is the only model that can make 80 crore people financially prosperous. The sector has seen experiments and their good results, be it Lijjat, Amul or the milk cooperatives of Karnataka.

Shri Amit Shah said we have to prepare the cooperative movement for the challenges of the present, remove stagnation, bring changes and transparency, only then small farmers will have increased trust in cooperatives. Democratic values as per the law have to be accepted in elections in cooperatives, it is only then that possibilities will have an environment to grow, no region can progress without possibilities.We have to accept professionalism and embrace corporate governance principles with a cooperative spirit.There are many models like IFFCO, Amul which have also kept the spirit of cooperative intact while following the footsteps of corporate governance.

The Union Home and Cooperation Minister said There are about 8.55 lakh cooperatives today, 1.77 lakh are credit societies, another 7 lakh are cooperative societies, 17 national level cooperative unions, 33 state cooperative banks, there are more than 63,000 active PACS and more than 12 crore members and around 91 percent villages have presence of cooperatives. This shows that we have a strong foundation on which we can build a structure.

Shri Amit Shah said that we have a strong base and impediments have to be removed by developing new provisions, new policy and harmonization and this can happen only if a co-operative policy is developed to meet today’s needs in a holistic manner. A complete updated cooperative policy that will address the needs of the sector from PACS to APACS will be placed before the nation in 8-9 months and will help to create an environment in which cooperatives can expand. In this, new dimensions and areas can be connected only with the spirit of TEAM, which means: T for Transparency, E for Empowerment, A  forAatmanirbhar and M  for Modernization. Computerization of the cooperative sector along with modernization and professionalism will also have to be brought into the working of large cooperative societies.

The Union Home and Cooperation Minister said the Cooperation Ministry does not wish to decide the objectives of the new cooperative policy, and wants to leave it open. In a couple of days, the ministry will invite suggestions on the cooperative policy on the website of the Cooperation Ministry, responses to which can be sent in all languages. He said those running rural cooperative societies and small cooperative banks face problems. Perhaps their suggestions may not be useful in preparing the cooperative policy, but obstacles faced by cooperatives have to be removed. If these two issues are addressed in the same exercise,then it should be done.

Shri Amit Shah said that in the new Cooperation Policy  – free registration, transparency, coordination in cooperatives, effort to bring equality through dialogue between the laws of the states, exploring new dimensions, reaching every village, creating credit societies, doubling farmers’ incomes and provisions of making cooperative institutions financially strong  will be incorporated in new Cooperation Policy. He said he was placing these points attoday’s conference. A perfect and suitable cooperative policy has to be developed, only then can we make the more than the expected contribution to the national economy, to realise the Prime Minister Shri NarendaModi’s vision of achieving a US $ 5 trillion economy and doubling farmers’ income, Shri Shah said.

The Union Cooperation Minister said that the leaders of our cooperative movement will have to go to every district with this spirit. New hope has to be instilled in them, their activities have to be re-energised. Shri Shah assured the conference that as a cooperative sector worker, he is also ready to work shoulder to shoulder with others in the sector. He said a base has been formed and now greater momentum in the activities of this ministry will be witnessed. This spirit has to be conveyed to the PACS andtheir members.

The Union Minister for Cooperation said that today six topics have been taken up during the discussions and all of them are included in the nine points mentioned in the beginning. The end result which will emerge after the brainstorming at this two-day discussion, in the making of a new policy. Suggestions are being invited from persons associated with cooperatives in all local languages ​​from across the country. Shri Amit Shah urgedthedelegates at the conference to take this initiative to all cooperative societies in their States so that even those running small village societies can also give suggestions. The Minister said he strongly felt that having a bottom up approach and including suggestions coming from rural milk producer societies and PACS only would make an equitable and all-encompassing and cooperative policy in accordance to the needs of the times. He said we will be able to fulfill the expectations of Prime Minister Shri NarendraModi, that he has placed on the cooperative sector and the cooperative sector will definitely become the third model of economic development.

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RK / AY/ RR