Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday said the government will soon announce a national cooperative policy effective from 2025 to 2045, as part of efforts to revive the country's cooperative movement and create employment for its 1.4 billion people.
Speaking at a meeting of state cooperation ministers on the occasion of the celebration of International Year of Cooperatives (IYC) 2025, Shah said the policy aims to establish cooperatives in every village across India within five years, supported by a target to set up 2,00,000 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) by February 2026.
"Under the National Cooperative Policy, each state's cooperative policy will be formulated according to the cooperative conditions of that state and specific goals will be set," Shah said, adding that only then India can become an ideal cooperative state by the centenary of independence.
The Union minister set a deadline of January 31, 2026 for all states to announce their respective cooperative policies.
Shah identified three main reasons behind the weakening of the cooperative movement in India - laws were not changed over time, cooperative activities were neither expanded nor adapted with time, and recruitments were based on nepotism.
"The Modi government has now amended these laws and conceived the idea of Tribhuvan Sahkari University (TSU) to address these issues," he said.
Regarding the ambitious target of establishing 2 lakh Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), Shah said the target for financial year 2025-26 should be completed by February next year to fulfil the goal on time.
The home minister emphasised that urban cooperative banks and credit societies need special attention.
"Now we have brought cooperative banks under the Banking Act and the Reserve Bank of India has also taken a flexible approach and solved many of our problems," he said.
Shah stressed the need for promoting natural farming and urged all state cooperation ministers to work in coordination with agriculture ministers in their respective states.
Highlighting the 'Cooperation Amongst Cooperatives' model, Shah said it has been a very good and successful experiment in Gujarat and is important for growth and development of national capacity.
The minister said Prime Minister Narendra Modi established the Ministry of Cooperation with the objective of reviving the long-standing tradition of cooperation while keeping present perspectives in mind.
"Around 60 to 70 crore people in India lacked even basic facilities and were living for generations in scarcity. Within the 10-year period from 2014 to 2024, the Modi government fulfilled their dreams by providing housing, toilets, drinking water, food grains, healthcare, gas cylinders and other facilities," Shah said in a statement.
He added that these people now want to improve their lives further by becoming entrepreneurs but lack initial capital, and cooperation is the only way for them to do significant work with small amounts of capital.
Shah said the government's goal is that within the next five years, there should not be a single village in the country without a cooperative, and the National Cooperative Database should be used to achieve this objective.
The meeting focused on comprehensive evaluation of initiatives taken by the Ministry of Cooperation and included discussions on setting up Multi-Purpose Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (M-PACS), promotion of dairy and fisheries cooperatives, and implementation of the world's largest grain storage scheme in the cooperative sector.
The delegates also discussed the role of three newly formed national multi-state cooperative societies - National Cooperative Export Limited (NCEL), National Cooperative Organic Limited (NCOL), and Bharatiya Beej Sahkari Samiti Limited (BBSSL).
Other key topics included the White Revolution 2.0 initiative, digital transformation through computerisation of PACS and Registrar of Cooperative Societies offices, capacity building through Tribhuvan Sahkari University, and financial reforms for cooperative banks.
The meeting reaffirmed the shared resolve of the Centre and states to transform India's cooperative landscape into a strong pillar of economic growth.
Speaking at a meeting of state cooperation ministers on the occasion of the celebration of International Year of Cooperatives (IYC) 2025, Shah said the policy aims to establish cooperatives in every village across India within five years, supported by a target to set up 2,00,000 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) by February 2026.
"Under the National Cooperative Policy, each state's cooperative policy will be formulated according to the cooperative conditions of that state and specific goals will be set," Shah said, adding that only then India can become an ideal cooperative state by the centenary of independence.
The Union minister set a deadline of January 31, 2026 for all states to announce their respective cooperative policies.
Shah identified three main reasons behind the weakening of the cooperative movement in India - laws were not changed over time, cooperative activities were neither expanded nor adapted with time, and recruitments were based on nepotism.
"The Modi government has now amended these laws and conceived the idea of Tribhuvan Sahkari University (TSU) to address these issues," he said.
Regarding the ambitious target of establishing 2 lakh Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), Shah said the target for financial year 2025-26 should be completed by February next year to fulfil the goal on time.
The home minister emphasised that urban cooperative banks and credit societies need special attention.
"Now we have brought cooperative banks under the Banking Act and the Reserve Bank of India has also taken a flexible approach and solved many of our problems," he said.
Shah stressed the need for promoting natural farming and urged all state cooperation ministers to work in coordination with agriculture ministers in their respective states.
Highlighting the 'Cooperation Amongst Cooperatives' model, Shah said it has been a very good and successful experiment in Gujarat and is important for growth and development of national capacity.
The minister said Prime Minister Narendra Modi established the Ministry of Cooperation with the objective of reviving the long-standing tradition of cooperation while keeping present perspectives in mind.
"Around 60 to 70 crore people in India lacked even basic facilities and were living for generations in scarcity. Within the 10-year period from 2014 to 2024, the Modi government fulfilled their dreams by providing housing, toilets, drinking water, food grains, healthcare, gas cylinders and other facilities," Shah said in a statement.
He added that these people now want to improve their lives further by becoming entrepreneurs but lack initial capital, and cooperation is the only way for them to do significant work with small amounts of capital.
Shah said the government's goal is that within the next five years, there should not be a single village in the country without a cooperative, and the National Cooperative Database should be used to achieve this objective.
The meeting focused on comprehensive evaluation of initiatives taken by the Ministry of Cooperation and included discussions on setting up Multi-Purpose Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (M-PACS), promotion of dairy and fisheries cooperatives, and implementation of the world's largest grain storage scheme in the cooperative sector.
The delegates also discussed the role of three newly formed national multi-state cooperative societies - National Cooperative Export Limited (NCEL), National Cooperative Organic Limited (NCOL), and Bharatiya Beej Sahkari Samiti Limited (BBSSL).
Other key topics included the White Revolution 2.0 initiative, digital transformation through computerisation of PACS and Registrar of Cooperative Societies offices, capacity building through Tribhuvan Sahkari University, and financial reforms for cooperative banks.
The meeting reaffirmed the shared resolve of the Centre and states to transform India's cooperative landscape into a strong pillar of economic growth.
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