Calling Himachal Pradesh as the birth place of co-operative movement in the country , former state Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said the first co-operative society was established in Panjawar village of Una District in 1892, reports The Tribune.
Dhumal said so while inaugurating the five-storey building of the Utpur Cooperative Society near Hamirpur. He also felt that co-op movement alone is capable of ushering in prosperity in rural India.
Himachal had a co-operative even when the Co-op Act was not there which came in 1904, Dhumal underlined. The number of cooperative societies is over 5,000 today, he informed.