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Amit Shah to chair state cooperation ministers’ two-day conference today
At the conference, the Centre will seek suggestions and views of all states and Union territories on a slew of plans initiated by the government, according to the agenda circulated by the cooperation ministry.
Union home and cooperation minister Amit Shah will chair a two-day conference of all state cooperation ministers from Thursday, amid Centre’s efforts to overhaul the cooperative sector, including a new national policy.
At the conference, the Centre will seek suggestions and views of all states and Union territories on a slew of plans initiated by the government, according to the agenda circulated by the cooperation ministry.
Cooperatives are collectives jointly owned by participating members who share profits and losses, such as a rural business or banks. The dairy brand Amul, for instance, is a cooperative.
In July 2021, the Modi government created a ministry for cooperation, carving it out of the ministry of agriculture. The Centre has since rolled out several changes to digitise and expand the sector that plays a key role in the rural economy. At the heart of the Centre’s revamp is a plan to digitise primary agricultural cooperative societies or PACS, which act as last-mile lending institutions for millions of farmers.
Under the Constitution’s Seventh Schedule that divides responsibilities between the Centre and states, the latter have jurisdiction over cooperatives.
Shah had written to states recently, urging them for their views on a set of federally drafted model byelaws. Separately, the Centre on Tuesday announced a 47-member panel headed by former Union minister Suresh Prabhu to bring out a national policy on cooperatives.
India has nearly 800,000 cooperatives with a total membership base of about 290 million individuals, including banks, sugar mills and businesses, such as IFFCO, one of the country’s largest fertiliser manufacturers.
As HT had reported on July 13, the Centre is seeking to widen the scope of businesses for cooperatives, such as lending for consumption and medical loans, among financial activities, against collateral such as bonds and commodities. This will spur employment, an official had said.
The Centre will also discuss the issue of bringing about uniformity in laws and rules governing the sector across states. Discussions will also be held on a national database of cooperatives being built by the Centre, apart from an expansion plan, which envisages one cooperative for every panchayat, or the lowest tier of rural local self-governments.
