NEW DELHI: Cooperatives are socio-economic organizations which have community service as the essential ethos, and are not merely driven by profit motive. They are primarily meant to help the poor sections of the society.
India with a rich cooperative culture and a vibrant cooperative movement can march ahead only if we have a strong leadership which can provide a new direction to the growth of the cooperative movement.
In a historic move, a separate ‘Ministry of Co-operation’ has been created by the Modi Government for realizing the vision of ‘Sahkar se Samriddhi’.
This ministry will provide a separate administrative, legal and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movement in the country.
It will help deepen Co-operatives as a true people based movement reaching upto the grassroots.
In our country, a Co-operative based economic development model is very relevant where each member works with a spirit of responsibility.
The creation of a separate ministry comes after finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Union Budget speech, proposed setting up an administrative structure to further streamline the ‘ease of doing business’ for cooperatives
Role of Ministry of Co-operation
The Ministry will work to streamline processes for ‘Ease of doing business’ for co-operatives and enable development of Multi-State Co-operatives (MSCS).
The Central Government has signaled its deep commitment to community based developmental partnership. Creation of a separate Ministry for Co-operation also fulfils the budget announcement made by the Finance Minister.
The new ministry will help deepen cooperatives as a true, people-based movement reaching till the grassroots. In the country, a cooperative-based economic development model is very relevant where each member works with a spirit of responsibility, they added. The ministry will work to streamline processes for ”ease of doing business” for cooperatives and enable development of multi-state cooperatives (MSCS).
This ministry will provide a separate administrative, legal and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movement in the country.
Cooperative sector
The Cooperative sector has a big role to play in doubling agriculture exports from present US $ 30 billion+ to US$ 60 billion+ by 2022 as envisaged in the Agriculture Export Policy. Towards this end a Cooperative Sector Exports Promotion Forum has been set up in NCDC in 2018.
An estimated 94% of the Indian farmers are members of at least one cooperative institution. IICTF would be major platform to promote exports by cooperatives with direct benefits to their members who are mainly farmers, artisans, women, SC /ST etc.
Promotion of exports of key commodities / value chain products that have high potential, duly backed by specific promotional initiatives including the involvement of stakeholder entities would be a definite boost for Doubling the Farmers Income and achieving the goals set under the Agri-Exports Policy 2018.
Cooperative training must not only be imparted to employees in cooperatives, but also extend beyond cooperatives, to children in schools, colleges, universities, technical and professional institutions, and also for those who want to form cooperatives, but who are not aware of the various modalities, and requirements.
Agriculture plays an important role in our national economy and livelihood of more than 55% population of our country is dependent on agriculture and allied activities.
As per the recent data published by the International Cooperative Alliance in the ‘World Cooperative Monitor’ among the 300 largest cooperatives in the world, about 30% are found in the agriculture and food industry sector.
Agricultural cooperatives throughout the world have played a significant role in organizing the small farmers and it is worth noting that these small farmers are responsible for 80% of the world food production.
A minister in-charge for the new portfolio may be named on Wednesday. With this decision, the Central Government has signalled its deep commitment to community-based developmental partnership, sources added.
Cooperatives: Economic Backbone of India
Keeping in view the strategy of Government’s Seven Point Agenda for doubling farmers income by 2022, the agricultural cooperatives can play a vital role in educating the farmers to reduce the cost of cultivation through balanced use of fertilizer, improve water-use efficiency, establish more warehouse to avoid distress sale of produce, link with National E-market (e-NAM), emphasize value addition and encourage farmers to take up other allied activities like poultry, beekeeping, fisheries etc.
In the recent years, after globalization of economy the cooperative movement has been facing many problems. The Indian cooperative movement, the world’s largest movement, has its own inherent strength and weakness. With more than 8 lakh cooperatives, the cooperatives have significant presence in all the areas of socio-economic activities.
Dairy cooperatives have ushered in milk revolution in the country. AMUL has become a household name. The big institutions like IFFCO, KRIBHCO, AMUL, etc. are the big success stories in cooperative sector. Besides, there are a large number of cooperatives at the state level, like urban cooperative banks, primary agriculture cooperative societies, housing, fishery and other forms of cooperatives which are making untiring efforts to improve the socio-economic condition of the people in the rural areas.
At grass-root level, the impact of cooperative sector has a big role in bridging the urban-rural divide and creating opportunities for income generation.
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