Amit Shah Chairs Manthan Meeting To Boost Cooperatives

The meeting was convened to advance the cooperative sector as a vehicle to make India a fully developed nation by 2047 and to create systems in which one point four billion (bn) people can live with dignity. The minister noted that cooperatives can be the medium through which families attain dignified livelihoods and that a scientific approach adopted over recent years has started to yield results. Emphasis was placed on strengthening agriculture, rural development and animal husbandry as essential components of comprehensive national progress.

The minister highlighted that food grain storage capacity must increase nearly threefold, with cooperatives undertaking a twofold expansion and building modern warehouses for universal access. He urged tehsil level cooperative dairies, state marketing federations and district cooperative banks to finance and construct these facilities, noting that 70 per cent of procurement comes from North India and that regional alignment can cut transportation costs by 30 to 40 per cent. The meeting called for restarting closed sugar mills and noted that a national level cooperative will facilitate diversification as trials have shown up to 11 different products can be made.

Officials were asked to ensure that all cooperative institutions maintain their bank accounts with district cooperative banks and that cooperative banks participate as nodal agencies for central government schemes. The minister said that Bharat Taxi will reach every municipal corporation and that more than zero point three mn drivers have already joined, benefitting drivers and passengers. Presentations reviewed plans to establish zero point two mn new multipurpose Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) along with dairy and fisheries societies, and discussed computerisation of PACS and RCS offices, utilisation of the National Cooperative Database, human resource development and better implementation of NCDC schemes.