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Amit Shah outlines 5-year plan to boost cooperatives, aims to cover every village
Amit Shah said the Centre will ensure that each district in the country will have a co-operative bank and a milk producers’ union
The Union government has set a target to establish multipurpose primary agriculture credit societies (PACS) in 200,000 panchayats that have no cooperative institution in the next five years, Union home and cooperation minister Amit Shah said on Saturday.
Addressing the “Sahkar se Samriddhi” (Prosperity through Cooperation) programme in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar organised to mark the 102nd International Day of Cooperatives, Shah said the Centre will also ensure that each district in the country will have a co-operative bank and a milk producers’ union.
“The Union ministry of cooperation has taken many important steps. The government has set a target that there should not be any state or district in the country where there is not a viable district cooperative bank and a viable district milk producers’ union. Even today there are two lakh (200,000) panchayats in the country where there is no cooperative institution. In the next five years, we will work to create multipurpose PACS in these two lakh panchayats,” Shah said.
Praising the Gujarat government for announcing a subsidy of 50% on Nano-urea and Nano-DAP (Di-ammonium Phosphate), Shah said their use will increase production and save the soil.
The minister further said that the Union government has established National Cooperative Organic Limited (NCOL) to promote organic products and ensure fair price to farmers practising organic farming.
“Today Bharat Organic Atta has also been launched by NCOL. Amul has also launched a shop of Organic products in Delhi. Both Bharat Organic and Amul are reliable and 100% organic brands,” Shah said.
Highlighting the cooperative sector’s significant contribution to India’s rural and agricultural economy, he said: “The cooperative sector is contributing 20% in the distribution of agricultural loans, 35% in the distribution of fertilisers and 21% in production, 31% in sugar production, 13% in the purchase of wheat and 20% in the purchase of paddy.”
The Centre will soon bring a National Cooperative Policy, he said, adding that 1,100 new Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) have been formed in the country, and over 100,000 PACS have accepted the new bylaws. The National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) will be able to work for the welfare of more cooperative institutions with the issuance of bonds worth ₹2,000 crore, Shah added.
“The only objective behind the mantra of ‘Sahakar se Samriddhi’ given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to bring confidence, happiness and prosperity in the lives of 30 crore (300 million) people who are backward even after 75 years of Independence,” Shah asserted.
Highlighting the renewed focus of the government towards cooperation, Shah underlined that PM Modi created the new ministry of cooperation in 2021 to address the long-standing demand for a separate ministry dedicated to the cooperative sector.
“We have to lay such a strong foundation of cooperation in the next 5 years so that cooperation can reach every village and household for the next 125 years,” he added.
