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Bill to set up cooperative university in Gujarat cleared by Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed the Tribhuvan Sahkari University Bill, 2025, which aims to establish the Institute of Rural Management (IRMA) into a university in Anand district of Gujarat
The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed the Tribhuvan Sahkari University Bill, 2025, which aims to establish the Institute of Rural Management (IRMA) into a university in Anand district of Gujarat to create a qualified manpower for co-operative societies.
During a discussion on the bill in the Lok Sabha, Union home and cooperation minister Amit Shah said the university has been named after one of the pioneers of cooperative movement in India, Tribhuvandas Kishibhai Patel, who was instrumental in laying the foundation of Amul dairy cooperative.
“The university will strengthen the rural economy, develop self-employment and small entrepreneurship, increase social inclusion and establish many new standards in innovation and research,” Shah said, emphasising that the university will have the capacity to churn out over 800,000 qualified and trained job seekers in the cooperative sector annually.
The bill also seeks to declare the proposed university an “institution of national importance.”
Shah said though the university is being set up in Gujarat as the land was provided by the state government, it will cover all states “across the length and breadth of the country”. He added that institutes across the country would be affiliated with the university.
The Union minister also told Parliament that a cooperative insurance company will be set up soon to provide insurance coverage to all cooperative societies in the country.
“I assure you that once this is formed, this will be the biggest insurance company,” he said.
Shah further said that in the coming days, “Sahkar Taxi” on the lines of aggregators — Ola and Uber — will be set up on a cooperative model. “This will include not just registration of four wheelers but also two wheelers and auto rickshaws. The profits will directly go to the drivers and not the proprietors. We are soon going to bring such a cooperative service,” he added.
