The efforts are being made for the establishment of a Cooperative University to firmly deepen the foundations of the cooperative movement in the country, said Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah while replying to a query raised by a Lok Sabha MP.
Shah further added, “The Ministry is in the process of formulating the New National Cooperation Policy. A national-level committee has been constituted on 2nd September 2022 under the chairmanship of Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, consisting of experts from the cooperative sector, representatives from National/ State/ District/ Primary level cooperative societies, Secretaries (Cooperation) and RCSs from States/UTs, officers from Central Ministries/ Departments to formulate the New National Cooperation Policy”.
“The formulation of the New National Cooperation Policy will help realize the vision of ‘Sahakar se Samriddhi’, promoting the cooperative-based economic development model, strengthening the cooperative movement in the country and deepening its reach up to the grassroots’ ‘, he added.
Union Home and Cooperation Minister further stated, “In this regard, consultations were held earlier with stakeholders and suggestions were invited from the Central Ministries, Departments, States & UTs, National Cooperative Federations, Institutions and also from the general public.
The National level committee will analyse the collated feedback, policy suggestions & recommendations to formulate the draft of the new Policy”.
Later, talking to the Indian Cooperative Dileep Sanghani, President, NCUI said that setting up a Cooperative university is in accordance with the government’s thrust on ‘Sahakar Se Samriddhi”. Sanghani said diplomas offered by cooperative training organizations are not valued much and thus setting up a Co-op University will go a long way in brightening job prospects for students.
Earlier, Shah has informed that the said University will seek help from NCUI and would integrate all the different co-op education and training institutes of the country. He stressed the professional management of co-ops for their bright future.
The proposed University will be run by NCUI and monitored by the Ministry, top ministry sources add.