The uncertainty over the location of the to-be-established National Cooperative University continues even despite the Cooperation Minister of Madhya Pradesh claiming that the university will be set up in his state.
MP Cooperation Minister Arvind Singh Bhadauria went to the extent of claiming that the Union Minister Amit Shah has already given in-principle approval for the same. This is contested not only by the Ministry sources but also by an important co-operator from the state of Madhya Pradesh, Arun Tomar.
It is true that the Union Minister, while replying to a query raised by a Rajya Sabha member said in the House “There is a need for establishment of a Cooperative University to firmly deepen the foundations of cooperative movement in the country. Efforts are being made in this direction”.
Also, in his speech during the passage of the Multi State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill in Lok Sabha, Shah touched upon setting up a cooperative university and said, “Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has also decided to set up a cooperative university for cooperative education in the coming days”.
But, Shah nowhere revealed any proposed location for the same.
The Indian Cooperative tried to find the truth of Bhadauria’s claim and talked to a senior Ministry official, who on condition of anonymity, refuted Bhadoria’s claim. “No such decision about the location of co-op university has been decided upon yet”, he said emphatically.
There are many issues related to co-op university such as its curriculum, integration of already existing co-op training and education institutes with the University and other practical details that are keeping us busy. We will come to the site or location later, he added.
Arun Tomar, who is said to be related to the Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and who is a Governing Council Member of the apex body NCUI, also denied any such final decision on the location of the proposed University.
Talking to the Indian Cooperative Tomar said “Several days ago, the Madhya Pradesh Cooperative Department wrote a letter to the Union Ministry of Cooperation for establishing the cooperative university in their state”.
“In this letter, the state co-op department has assured of all kinds of help from providing space to other required things. The decision is yet pending and no confirmation has been received so far for setting up university in MP ”, said Tomar who was also present during the event when Bhadauria made this claim in Bhopal.
Bhadauria was speaking on the occasion of releasing the PACS manual 2022 published by MP State Cooperative Union. Some of the political analysts said that it might as well be a political gimmick of MP BJP as the state is going to poll this year.