Government will soon bring National Cooperative Policy: Amit Shah

Union Cooperative Minister Amit Shah said on Saturday that the 125-year-old cooperative movement is making a big contribution in various areas of the country and announced that the government will soon bring a National Cooperative Policy.

He said that the cooperative sector is contributing 20 per cent in the distribution of agricultural loans, 35 per cent in the distribution of fertilisers and 21 per cent in production, 31 per cent in sugar production, 13 per cent in the purchase of wheat and 20 per cent in the purchase of paddy.

Pointing out that the cooperative sector is making a very important contribution in the rural and agricultural economy, Shah said, "We have to lay such a strong foundation of cooperation in the next five years that cooperation can reach every village and household for the next 125 years."

He was addressing an event on the occasion of 102nd International Day of Cooperatives in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, according to an official release.

Shah said that the Modi government has come up with two new schemes through cooperatives. The government has taken important steps to promote Ethanol and for the prosperity of the farmers producing maize.

He said that the government has made arrangements that two big cooperative institutions of the government will buy maize produced by the farmers online at the minimum support price (MSP) and Ethanol will be made from it.

He said that this will not only make the farmers prosperous but will also help in increasing the country's foreign exchange reserves by reducing the import of petrol.

Shah said that similarly, the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) and consumer cooperative institutions will procure four types of pulses at 100 per cent MSP, the release said.

"We should promote ‘Cooperation among Cooperative’ institutions. If we do all the economic transactions of the cooperative sector within the cooperative sector itself, then we will not need to bring a single penny from outside the cooperative sector."

The Minister of Cooperation urged NABARD and all state cooperative banks across the country to ensure that every Primary Agriculture Credit Society (PACS) and other cooperative institutions open their account in the District Cooperative Bank or State Cooperative Bank, which will not only strengthen the cooperative sector but will also increase capital and confidence.

Shah said that the Union Ministry of Cooperation has taken many important steps for the cooperative sector. He said that 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 producer union. "Only by doing this, we will be able to expand the cooperative sector and make every rural and poor person prosperous," he said.

Shah said, "For this we have envisioned a Cooperative Panchayat. Even today there are two lakh panchayats in the country where there is not a single cooperative institution.  We have set a target that in the next five years, we will work to create multipurpose PACS in these two lakh panchayats "

Shah said that the government has also made model bylaws for PACS and despite PACS being a state subject, every state from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Assam to Dwarka has accepted these model bylaws.

He said that the Government has also worked towards making PACS multi-purpose and today, out of 65,000 functional PACS in the country, 48,000 have taken initiatives towards becoming viable by adding some new activity to themselves.

Shah said that the central government has also formed three multi-state cooperative institutions - Organic Committee, Export Committee and Seed Committee - paving the path to enrich the lives of farmers. He said that the government will soon bring a National Cooperative Policy.

Shah said that 1100 new Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) have been formed in the country, more than 1 lakh PACS have accepted the new bylaws and now with the issuance of bonds worth Rs 2000 crore to National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), this institution will be able to work for the welfare of more cooperative institutions, the release added.