Amit Shah addressed a two-day National Conference of State Cooperation Ministers

New Delhi: The Union Minister for Home and Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah addressed the two-day National Conference of State Cooperation Ministers  in New Delhi today. Several dignitaries including the Minister of State for Cooperation, Shri B.L Verma and Cooperation Ministers of 21 States and Lt. Governors of 2 Union Territories were present in the conference. 

In his address, the Union Cooperation Minister said this two-day conference will prove to be a step in the days ahead to take cooperatives to a new level. He said the cooperative movement  in India is about a 125 years old, but if we do not make timely changes in any activity, it becomes out of date and now time has come for the cooperative sector to strengthen itself according to the needs of the times and win everyone's trust once again. Shri Shah said the Ministry of Cooperation was created by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 6th July 2021 and in just one year, the Ministry has organized many meetings and conferences in all the related areas of cooperatives. Cooperation is mainly a State subject and our Constitution has left all activities of cooperatives to the States, but in a vast country like India, the entire cooperative movement should follow the same path,  and for this all States have to have common views. 

Shri Amit Shah said it is most important to strengthen the PACS to strengthen cooperatives and the government is taking many steps for this. He told the cooperative ministers of the States that everyone together has to inculcate the spirit of Team India in the cooperative sector and that too without politics, as trustees lwill have to move forward to strengthen and develop the cooperative sector in their respective States. If we look at the history of coooeratives in the last 150 years, it is seen that cooperatives have made a proud contribution to India’s economy and it is  a goal that in the next 100 years, Cooperatives must be a part of the Indian economy and make a big contrubution in fulfilling the dream the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi’s dream of a US $ 5 trillion economy.

The first Minister of Cooperation of the country said that at present there are about 8.5 lakh cooperative units in different parts of the country. Out of these, Cooperatives have contributed a lot in all areas related to agriculture finance distribution and agriculture. There are 1.5 lakh dairy and housing societies, 97,000  PACS and 46,000 honey cooperative societies, 26,000 consumer societies, many fisheries cooperatives and many cooperative sugar mills. 51 percent villages and 94 percent farmers are associated with cooperatives in some form or the other. The contribution of cooperatives in the country's economy is huge. The cooperative sector gives 20% of the total agricultural credit of the country, 35% of the fertilizer distribution is done by the cooperative sector, 25% of fertilizer production, 31% of sugar production, more than 10% of milk production is done through cooperatives, more than 13%  procurement of wheat and more than 20% of the procurement of paddy is done by the cooperative sector and more than 21% of the fishermen's business is done by cooperative societies.

Shri Amit Shah said in the field of cooperatives, we have to adopt uniformity in policy. The cooperative department of every State should follow the same path and with the same subject. If we look at the cooperative sector, we see three parts in the country. First, the developed States which are mostly in the West and South. Second, the developing States that are in the Central parr and in the North. Third, the underdeveloped States which are in the East and the North East. He said it should be our goal that the Cooperative Movement should be run equally in every State. In States where activities are slow or closed, we should try to accelerate them and for this we need a new Cooperative Policy. Such a Cooperative Policy that considers every State and Union Territory equally and works towards ensuring all-round development of the cooperative sector as well as identifying new areas. Shri Shah said Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has been  working to raise the standard of living of 70 crore poor persons. For these crores of people, Shri Modi  has provided housing, drinking water, gas cylinders, free food grains for two years, all health facilities up to Rs. 5 lakh and electricity and now the aspirations of these people have been awakened and now these crores of people want to contribute in the development of the country. But these people have very little capital and if they want to contribute to the development of the country, then only cooperatives can be the medium. Co-operatives is the only sector in which a lot of people can come together and contribute hugely even with minimal capital and Amul in Gujarat is a classic example of this. To consider this type of all-round development, a committee has been constituted to prepare a cooperative policy in which all States are represented and former Union Minister Shri Suresh Prabhu, who has done good work in the cooperative sector, is has been appointed the Chairman of this Committee.

The Union Minister for Home and Cooperation said mass production is necessary for the development of the economy, but in our vast country with a population of 130 crore, ‘Production by Masses’ is also very important and its concept does not come from anywhere else but from cooperatives. For this, our cooperative policy will take the country far ahead. We have set the focus of this policy – free registration, computerisation, democratic elections, ensuring active membership, professionalism in governance and leadership, professionalism and transparency, and accountability. Along with this, we want to incorporate effective human resource policy, which should have transparency in recruitment, empowerment of infrastructure, use of technology and policy-rules and guidelines for this. If there is a special participation of youth and women in the cooperative sector, then cooperatives will go a long way. We also have to engage with the outside business world and achieve all standards of competition because now we cannot escape competition. Cooperatives now have to make it a habit to live with competition, only then will cooperatives be able to move forward. Along with this, we also want to carve out some new dimensions, such as insurance, health, tourism, processing, storage and services. These are areas in which a lot can be done through cooperatives.