The two-day conference of state co-op ministers ended with the participants resolving to work together to give fresh impetus to the cooperative based economic model in the country to realize the mantra of Sahakar Se Samaridhi. Cooperation Ministers from 21 states and Lt. Governors of 2 UTs and top ministry officials participated in the event which was inaugurated by Union Minister Amit Shah.
The Conference was organized by the Ministry of Cooperation at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on 08-09 September, 2022. On the opening day, the conference began with a welcome speech of Minister of State for Cooperation, B. L. Verma and inaugural address by Union Home & Cooperation Minister Amit Shah.
Deliberations were held on various important themes including – National Cooperation Policy, National Cooperative Database, New Proposed Schemes of Ministry of Cooperation viz.
Other ideas discussed included PACS in every Panchayat, Export of Agro-based and other products, promotion and marketing of Organic Products, expansion of Co-operatives to New Areas. Further, Subjects related to PACS and Model Bye-Laws including PACS Computerization, Action Plan for Revitalization of defunct PACS, Model Bye-Laws of PACS were also discussed along with issues related to Primary Co-operative Societies regarding prioritizing long term financing, Milk Co-operative Societies and Fish Cooperative Societies etc.
NCDC being a leader in cooperative financing informed about the prospects and avenues of lending to the Cooperative sector, with facilitation through its Regional Directorates across States.
Gyanesh Kumar, Secretary, (Ministry of Cooperation, Government of India) highlighted the strength of the Cooperative movement in the Country and requested States to adopt state of the art Software along with up-to-date hardware under the Project on Computerization of PACS, as approved by the Government of India.
Further, to give boost to the export of Cooperatives, the Ministry is facilitating registration of a National Level Cooperative Export House under the MSCS Act 2002, that will work in close coordination with Union Ministry of External Affairs and Union Ministry of Commerce to harness the export potential of nearly 30 Crore people associated with the Cooperative movement.
The Secretary (Cooperation) also briefed about the Multi-State Cooperative Society being registered for production, procurement, branding and marketing Organic products and Quality Seeds. He further conveyed that the Ministry of Cooperation has been acting to ensure cooperatives are treated on par with other economic forms.
Secretary (M/o Cooperation, Government of India), Vijay Kumar, Additional Secretary and Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Chief and Addl. Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries and the Registrar of Cooperative Societies of the States/UTs shared their views and suggestions for strengthening the cooperative sector. All States/UTs made presentations and shared information about their best practices amongst themselves.
