The Modi government on Tuesday announced new ‘Ministry of Cooperation’ for strengthening the cooperative movement in the country. This comes in the backdrop of a Cabinet expansion exercise that is expected to take place on Wednesday evening.
This new ministry will provide a separate administrative, legal and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movement in the country, the government said in a press note, adding that it will help deepen cooperatives as a “true people-based movement reaching up to the grassroots”. The ministry, the statement added, has been created by the Modi government for realising the vision of ‘Sahkar se Samriddhi’ (Prosperity through cooperatives). The ministry will work to streamline processes for ‘ease of doing business’ for cooperatives and enable development of multi-state cooperatives (MSCS). The creation of a separate ministry also fulfils the announcement made by the Finance Minister in the Union Budget. In the country, a cooperative-based economic development model is very relevant where each member works with a spirit of responsibility, the press release mentioned. Reacting to PM Modi’s announcement to form a separate ‘Ministry of Cooperation’, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said that the decision will bring prosperity to agriculture and rural sector.
