Mumbai: Union Minister Amit Shah said on Saturday that the cooperative sector is still relevant today, but it was hurt by political interference in the past. He also said that the cooperative sector has a bright future. Shah was delivering the Laxmanrao Inamdar Memorial Lecture at Mumbai University. He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi infused fresh life into the cooperative movement by carving out a separate Cooperation Ministry.
Amit Shah’s Tensure As Cooperation Minister
Shah assumed charge as the first Cooperation Minister in 2019. Cooperative movement is the only economic model where “the smallest of the smallest person” can contribute to the development of the country with the least amount of capital, he said.
“Do not even by mistake assume that cooperative (sector) has become irrelevant. I can say this with confidence that cooperative (sector’s) future is bright,” Shah said.
Union Minister Recalls Importance Of Cooperation Ministry
The sector was once a driver of rural and agricultural growth in the country, Amit Shah noted.
“But after 1960 and especially after 1967, political interference started increasing in the cooperative sector….the country’s economy got some jolts, there were downturns, which hurt the cooperative movement,” Shah added.
He listed a series of steps the new ministry has taken with an aim to boost rural and agricultural growth. In the next five years, three lakh Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) will be formed and every panchayat will have a PACS, the minister said.
Primary Agricultural Credit Societies In India’s Rural Development
The role of PACS will be multi-dimensional and it can discharge functions of dairy, fishermen society, run a petrol pump, cooking gas agency and even cheap grocery and medical shops, he said.
“We have made PACS viable by adding 20 more activities. Model bye-laws (related to PACS) were sent to the states. Twenty-three parties have accepted the model bye-laws irrespective of party politics,” he added.
A multi-state organic cooperative society has been formed to buy organic produce and sell at a higher price in the international market. A multi-state export cooperative was formed to export farmers’ produce and the profits will reach the farmers. A multi-state seed cooperative society was also formed, Shah said.
Fundamental changes have been made in training with regard to the cooperative sector in the areas of dairy, industry, storage, marketing and agriculture finance and linked to the new cooperative university, the minister said.
How Does The Coopration Model Work
Cooperation is a human-centric model where people with minimum capital can contribute to the economy by coming together and compete with those who have access to more funds, he said. The Modi government has brought into mainstream some 60 crore people who did not have bank accounts and were part of the informal economy, Shah said.
The cooperative movement must absorb modern technologies, he said, adding that “mass production and production by masses” is required. The memorial lecture had been organised in association with Sahakar Bharati, a co-operative body founded by Lakshmanrao Inamdar, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader.
Earlier in the day, Shah visited the Lalbaughcha Raja Ganesh pandal and also offered prayers to the Ganesh idols installed at `Varsha’ and `Sagar’, the official residences of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, respectively.
(With inputs from PTI)
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