By Shri Dileep Sanghani, President of the National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI)
It is a matter of great pleasure for us that the Government of India has recently formed a separate Union Ministry of Cooperation after long concerted efforts by the Indian cooperative movement. This development is welcome and will strengthen the cooperative movement in the years to come. Here, I would like to mention that the NCUI has always emphasized on creation of a separate cooperative ministry at central government. Recently, the Government of India had decided to set up a separate administrative structure for the development of Multi-state Cooperative Societies and to provide the necessary support to strengthen the capacity of cooperative institutions to be able to compete in the open market. In the current volatile socio-economic situation, such structural reforms are necessary to make cooperatives a sustainable and successful business model.
Based on this decision, the former Union Minister of State for Cooperatives, Shri Parshottam Rupala invited suggestions from the Indian cooperatives on what should be the framework/ administrative structure of the new ministry to serve the cooperatives in the best possible way. Hence, the NCUI organized a national level discussion with the Minister seeking suggestions and opinions from the cooperative leadership across the country on strengthening the administrative structure of the new Ministry as well as the cooperatives.
Presidents/ Managing Directors of National Federations were present in this discussion. It was a common consensus that there is a need to set up a separate Ministry of Cooperatives to strengthen the cooperative movement at the grassroots level and to find solutions to the problems of various cooperatives centrally. The cooperatives highlighted the fact that over the years, they have been neglected in the planning/ budgeting process of the government. If a separate ministry will be set up, the issues of cooperatives can be taken on priority. I am glad that the Ministry of Cooperatives has been established only after few months of initiating this discussion.
Recently, a delegation led by NCUI consisting of the Chairmen/ Managing Directors of prominent national cooperative federations such as IFFCO, KRIBHCO and NAFED etc., met the Hon’ble Union Cooperation Minister, Shri Amit Shah and had a detailed discussion with him on issues concerning the cooperative sector. Shri Amit Shah showed commitment to strengthen the cooperative movement and talked about organizing a conference of senior representatives of all the national and state level cooperatives. We sincerely hope that with the interest taken by the Hon’ble Minister, a lot of positive changes will take place in the coming years for the betterment of the cooperative sector. With the creation of a separate ministry, the role and responsibility of the NCUI and other national-level cooperatives have increased even more. We will have to make every effort to strengthen the cooperative movement under the guidance of the Ministry along with all the cooperative institutions and bring to the notice of the Ministry various challenges faced by the cooperatives.
There is also a need to review the National Policy on Cooperatives 2002 to make it relevant to the ever-changing socio-economic aspirations of cooperative members. After the formation of the new ministry, I sincerely hope that the government will form a new National Cooperative Policy. To make the proposed formation of cooperative policy relevant and need-based, the concern of the cooperative movement must be addressed appropriately and their suggestions and opinions should be considered to make the process participatory. By resetting the cooperative policy, the challenges faced by the cooperative movement can be addressed effectively and the institutions can be further strengthened based on the universal values and principles of cooperation. Besides, the national cooperative policy is expected to create a conducive environment so that people should have trust in the cooperative business model, and more people get organized and embrace cooperatives as means of livelihood in every business sector.
The cooperative education and training sector has to play a critical role in creating awareness among people, policymakers, and other stakeholders. The NCUI is playing an important role in this regard and organizing several educational and skill development programmes to address the needs of the members and is supporting the national, state unions and the junior cooperative training centres at the district level across the country.
NCUI has outreach at the grassroots level as well including the Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS) through its 41 Cooperative Education Projects. A team of 150 staff is working at 41 districts located in various states where the staff is directly helping in skill development and capacity building of the ordinary cooperative members and community. We hope that with the creation of the new Ministry, the capacity of the NCUI will be strengthened further in serving 40 crore individual cooperative members organized in 8 lakh cooperatives in the country.
