Modi tenure will be remembered as Golden era for co-ops: Shah

Addressing the 17th Indian Cooperative Congress at Pragati Maidan before the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi did, Union Minister Amit Shah asked the assembly of co-operators present on this occasion to offer standing ovation to the Prime Minister for creating a Separate Ministry and giving much needed push to the co-op movement in the country.

Shah said that it was due to Prime Minister Modi that a demand which existed for more than seven decades got a solution in his second term as the Prime Minister. “I can clearly see the difference being brought into the sector, which was earlier governed pan India through a joint secretary”, said Shah.

Shah said that on the initiative of Shri Modi, the amendment in the Multistate Cooperative Societies Act has been suggested by the Parliamentary Committee with consensus and this law is going to come in the coming session of parliament.

The PM completely understands the needs of the Ministry of Cooperation and due to his guidance in every initiative many changes have come in the cooperative sector”, he added. There had been a stagnation in the cooperative sector for the last 25-30 years, but in this cooperative congress we should take a resolution that under the leadership of Shri Modi, cooperatives will contribute more in the coming 25 years than what they have contributed in a century, he stated.

The PM has settled the long pending tax dispute of sugar mills of worth Rs 15,000 crore through an Act and has made such arrangements that there should be no tax disputes in future, informed Shah.

We have to incorporate newer areas in the cooperative sector, we have to accept self-discipline and reforms in order to bring computerization, modernization and an openness in cooperatives, said Shah stressing the Modi Government is working to bring uniformity in cooperative laws under the constitutional framework without interfering with the rights of states and the Centre.

The Modi Government is working to make PACS viable by linking it with many activities said Shah adding injustice was done to cooperatives under the income tax law for decades and they were not treated on par with companies, but the Prime Minister removed all the inequalities in one go and gave cooperatives equal status with companies.

The cooperative sector itself will have to accept transparency and change, it is difficult but not impossible and if we succeed in doing this, then the cooperative movement of the whole country will get a big boost, he underlined.

On the occasion, Shah also appreciated the role being played by the NCUI and said the apex organization of the cooperative sector and under the leadership of Shri Dileep Sanghani, the Cooperative Union has taken all the initiatives and changes from PACS to APACS through excellent coordination and efforts.

He said that a lot of work has been done in the cooperative sector especially by credit cooperative societies, housing cooperative societies, fisheries societies and cooperative banks to improve the livelihood of the poor sections of society.

Shah said that in this Cooperative Congress, we should take a pledge to make more contributions in the development of the nation during the next 25 years of AmritKaal in comparison to contributions done during the last century.

He said that now we must work towards connecting youth and women with cooperatives and try to improve the life of the poorest of the poor through cooperatives. Shah said that after this Cooperative Congress, we should envision the development of cooperatives in a symmetric manner, and while a lot of work has already been done in this regard, a lot more still remains to be accomplished. He said that we must incorporate newer areas in the cooperative sector. We have to accept self-discipline and reforms in order to bring computerization, modernization and an openness in cooperatives.

He said that earlier laws for PACS were different across the country and in order to bring uniformity, the Ministry of Cooperation has prepared bylaws for PACS and sent them to all States and Union Territories as advisories. 26 States and Union Territories have accepted these bylaws and 85 percent PACS of the country will work under the same law after September this year.

Shri Shah said that through this, Prime Minister Modi has made PACS multidimensional which will make their expansion very easy. He said that we have also linked many activities with PACS, such as Common Service Centres, which will not only help in making PACS viable, but also will make them the center of rural services.

He said that we have also taken initiative in changing the retail outlets and recently the Prime Minister has also approved the world’s biggest food grains storage scheme. Shri Shah said that with the success of this scheme, the share of cooperatives in the storage system will increase to more than 35% in the next 5 years.

Amit Shah said that we have created a database of cooperatives across the country and 90% work has been completed, through which we will identify the vacuum and will do the expansion. He said that at present there are 85,000 PACS in the country. There will be PACS in every panchayat of the country in the next 3 years which means 3 lakh PACS will come into existence in the country and they will strengthen the cooperative sector.

He said that along with the database, we also want to create a cooperative policy which will work for the expansion of cooperatives during the Amrit Kaal. He added that we are moving forward by giving a lot of thrust on training and transparency.

Shri Shah said that we have started an inter-ministerial discussion to set up a Cooperative University. This will help in modernizing our training system up to Tehsil under National Cooperative Union of India and through a single curriculum, we will have experts in many fields of cooperatives. He said that there are about 630 training institutes working in the cooperative sector in the country today, using them as an extension, the Cooperative University will work smoothly and with uniformity in the course and this will speed up the cooperative movement across the country.

Prime Minister Shri Modi has given many facilities to the people living below the poverty line and now this class has come out of the struggle for their basic amenities and is looking forward to their future with hope. He said that this section does not have capital, but we will definitely do the work of collection of their small capital and make this a big capital through cooperatives and connect them to enterprises.