Dr. Ashish Kumar Bhutani, Secretary of the Ministry of Cooperation, together with Shri Pankaj Kumar Bansal, Additional Secretary, led a crucial meeting with Managing Directors and Social Media Heads of National Federations aimed at significantly enhancing the social media footprint of cooperatives.
The primary objective was to amplify the dissemination of cooperative information and ministry schemes to an audience of approximately 30 crore individuals connected with these entities.
This strategic initiative, which builds upon the groundwork laid by former Secretary Gyanesh Kumar, sought to adopt a comprehensive and phased approach to systematically reach every member of cooperative societies through digital platforms such as WhatsApp, Twitter, and Facebook.
Key to this strategy is the formation of structured WhatsApp groups that start with the Boards of Directors and extend to every cooperative member, ensuring that each individual receives timely updates on news and government initiatives.
The implementation of such a widespread digital engagement strategy introduces significant financial and logistical challenges. It was obvious during the meeting that cooperatives would need to manage the financial implications of this digital push.
One of the participants said on condition of anonymity “This includes costs associated with hiring agencies responsible for collecting contact details of cooperative members and assisting them in setting up social media accounts—tasks that are both resource-intensive and critical for achieving the desired outreach.”
Furthermore, the meeting delved into enhancing the visibility and accessibility of cooperative publications at the grassroots level. There was a concerted call for increasing the circulation of prominent publications such as IFFCO’s Sahakar Uday and NCUI’s Sahakar Jagran.
The Ministry of Cooperation also emphasized the importance of diversifying the languages of newsletters and other communication materials to broaden the reach and impact of messages pertaining to cooperative societies.
The discussion saw active participation from various key organizations, including IFFCO, NCUI, Kribhco, Nafed, Trifed, and NCCF. This collective effort underscores the cooperative sector’s commitment to leveraging digital tools and platforms to strengthen its network and ensure that every member of the cooperative ecosystem is well-informed and actively engaged.