Addressing co-operators on the theme of ‘Sahakar Se Samriddhi’ at Mahatma Mandir, in Gandhinagar on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he was happy to note the idea of a model cooperative village is taking roots in the country.
A model co-operative village would cover all economic activities of the rural life through co-operatives, said Modi adding that six villages have been identified so far in Gujarat for the purpose.
On this occasion, the Prime Minister also inaugurated the Nano Urea (Liquid) Plant constructed at IFFCO, Kalol. Chief Minister of Gujarat Bhupendrabhai Patel, Union Ministers Amit Shah, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, Members of Parliament, MLA, Ministers from the Gujarat Government, and leaders of the cooperative sector were among those present on the occasion.
Modi said cooperation is a great medium for the self-sufficiency of the village. It has the energy of AtmaNirbhar Bharat. He said Pujya Bapu and Patel showed us the way for bringing self-sufficiency to villages. Along those lines, today we are moving ahead on the path of developing a model cooperative village. Six villages in Gujarat have been chosen where all the cooperative-related activities would be implemented, he said.
Similarly, the Prime Minister expressed heartfelt happiness on the inauguration of the Nano Urea (Liquid) Plant constructed at IFFCO, Kalol. He said that the power of a full sack of urea has come into a half-liter bottle, leading to huge savings in transportation and storage.
The Prime Minister informed India is the second-largest consumer of urea in the world but only the third-largest producer. The work of restarting 5 closed fertilizer factories in UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Telangana was initiated. UP and Telangana factories have already started production, and the other three factories also will
soon start working, he said.
Modi said that a urea bag costing Rs 3500 is made available to the farmer for Rs 300 while the government bears Rs 3200 per bag. Similarly, on a bag of DAP, the government bears Rs 2500 as opposed to Rs 500 borne by the earlier governments. The Union Government gave a subsidy of Rs 1 lakh 60 thousand crore last year, this year this subsidy is going to be more than Rs 2 lakh crore, the Prime Minister informed.
He said co-operative is a great model of self-reliance and said the example of the cooperative model of the dairy sector is before us. Today India is the largest milk producer in the world among which Gujarat has a major share. The government plays the role of only a facilitator here, the rest is either done by cooperatives or farmers.
The Prime Minister informed that the Government is continuously moving forward to connect the spirit of
cooperation with the spirit of the Amrit Kaal. With this objective, a separate ministry for cooperatives was formed at the center. He added that efforts are being made to encourage a cooperative-based economic model in the country.
“The greatest strength of cooperatives is the faith, cooperation, and enhancing the capability of the organization with collective strength. This is the guarantee of India’s success”, he added.
