For the landless and poor people, cooperative sector is paving the way to prosperity

Amit Shah, chaired the second meeting of the Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Cooperation on the initiatives of the Ministry to strengthen the cooperative sector in New Delhi today. The meeting was attended by Union Ministers of State for Cooperation Shri Krishan Pal and Shri Murlidhar Mohol, Members of the Committee, Secretary of the Ministry of Cooperation, and senior officers of the Ministry.

Addressing the meeting, Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the Ministry of Cooperation is committed to transform cooperatives into vibrant and successful business units. He said that in their ambitious target to set up 2 lakh multipurpose cooperative societies in the country in 5 years, 35,395 new cooperative societies have been formed so far, which include 6,182 are Multipurpose Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (MPACS), 27,562 are dairy and 1,651 are fisheries cooperative societies.

mit Shah said that the cooperative sector can open the way to prosperity for the landless and poor people. He said that three national level cooperative societies have been formed for the prosperity of the cooperative sector, agriculture and farmers. He said that the National Cooperative Organic Limited (NCOL) ensures the certification, branding, packaging and marketing of organic products of farmers so that farmers can get a good price for their produce. He said that the National Cooperative Export Limited (NCEL) provides all the facilities related to exporting the farmers' products to the international market, whereby the full profit goes to the farmers. Shri Shah said that the Bharatiya Beej Sahkari Samiti Limited (BBSSL) works towards the conservation, storage and production of traditional seeds of India. The Union Minister of Cooperation said that the Modi government will enter into contracts with small farmers for traditional seeds so that they can also benefit out of it.

Union Minister of Cooperation asked all the members of the consultative committee to strengthen the dairy sector in their respective states to give a boost to cooperatives. He said that the Ministry of Cooperation has taken more than 100 initiatives in the last four years to strengthen Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), dairy, fisheries, cooperative banks, sugar cooperatives and cooperative governance systems. He said that the National Cooperative Policy-2025 provides a comprehensive roadmap for sustainable cooperative development in the country. This roadmap also includes coordination with Government of India schemes, such as Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY), National Dairy Development Program (NPDD) and others to strengthen the cooperative ecosystem at the grassroots level. He said that efforts are being made to increase milk procurement by 50% in the next five years under the White Revolution 2.0 led by cooperatives.