Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah on Tuesday chaired the second meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Cooperation in New Delhi, where he reviewed the progress toward the ambitious goal of establishing two lakh multipurpose cooperative societies across India within five years, revealing that over 35,395 new societies have already been formed—including 6,182 Multipurpose Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (MPACS), 27,562 dairy cooperatives, and 1,651 fisheries cooperatives. Joined by Union Ministers of State for Cooperation Krishan Pal and Murlidhar Mohol, along with committee members and senior officials, Shah reiterated the government’s commitment under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership to transform cooperatives into dynamic business enterprises, particularly to benefit landless and poor communities. He highlighted three national-level cooperative bodies—National Cooperative Organic Limited (NCOL) for organic product marketing, National Cooperative Export Limited (NCEL) for exporting farmers’ produce, and Bharatiya Beej Sahkari Samiti Limited (BBSSL) for traditional seed conservation—as key pillars of this mission, and announced plans to link small farmers through contracts for traditional seed production. Additionally, Shah noted that Tribhuvan Sahkari University, established by Parliamentary Act, has been granted the status of an institution of national importance to strengthen cooperative education and develop skilled manpower for the sector.
