The Narendra Modi government has decided to create a new Ministry of Co-operation with the aim to strengthen the co-operative movement in the country to boost economic development.

The Ministry will work to streamline processes for ‘ease of doing business’ for co-operatives and enable development of Multi-State Co-operatives, according to an official statement released on Wednesday.

Senior officials are of the view that successful models such as Amul, and giant fertiliser co-operative IFFCO can be emulated to develop more such enterprises based on the participation of small farmers and artisans. The Horticultural Producers Co-operative Marketing and Processing Society (HOPCOMS) spread across several districts of Karnataka and the Karnataka Milk Federation are other examples of successful co-operatives in the country.  

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The new ministry will provide a separate administrative, legal and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movement in the country. It will help deepen co-operatives as a true people based movement going down to the grassroots.

“In our country, a co-operative based economic development model is very relevant where each member works with a spirit of responsibility. In a historic move, a separate Ministry of Co-operation has been created by the Modi Government for realizing the vision of Sahkar se Samriddhi, the statement added.

The Central Government has signalled its deep commitment to community based developmental partnership. Creation of a separate Ministry for Co-operation also fulfils the budget announcement made by the Finance Minister, the official statement added.