Cooperative Societies: One-Stop Shop for Farmers

New Delhi, Oct 1 (PTI) Odisha Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja has said that cooperative societies have become a one-stop shop for catering to all the requirements of farmers.

To empower cooperatives and strengthen cooperative societies in rural areas, a two-day national review meeting was organized by the Ministry of Cooperation in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

The meeting was inaugurated by Ahuja and Ashish Kumar Bhutani, Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation, an official statement said.

One of the key agenda of the national review meeting was to ensure the smooth implementation of SOPs on three major initiatives in every village/panchayat.

The SOPs on 3 major initiatives include formation and strengthening of 2 lakh new MPACS, Dairy and Fishery Cooperatives, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) on 'White Revolution 2.0' and 'Cooperation among Cooperatives'.

The goal of making PACS (Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies) a vibrant economic unit was also discussed in the two-day review meeting.

Among the ten initiatives taken by the Ministry of Cooperation in the first 100 days of the government, three major initiatives were launched by Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah during the National Conference in New Delhi, recently.

The review meeting aimed to deliberate on the successful implementation of the ministry's 100-day action plan.

It was discussed that the participation of youth is very important for promoting cooperative start-ups.

"Increasing youth participation in cooperative societies, modernizing cooperative education and training systems is very important in the coming days," the statement said.

Ahuja emphasized the critical need for the formation and promotion of strong institutions at the grassroots levels wherein all basic needs like quality inputs, storage structures, processing facilities, credit facilities and marketing facilities of the local people can be fulfilled.

Exemplifying Amul like Multi-State Cooperative Societies, he said that the various schemes and initiatives of the Ministry of Cooperation, like model bye-laws, computerization, Jan Aushadhi Kendras, have transformed these cooperative societies into a One Stop Shop catering to all the needs of farmers under one roof.

Bhutani highlighted the pivotal role of cooperative societies in contributing towards the GDP.

In this direction, he emphasized on formation of multipurpose PACS by the adoption of model bye Laws as an important initiative of the Ministry of Cooperation.

The Model Bye laws adoption has enabled PACS to become multi-dimensional being able to work in 25 new business avenues that will economically strengthen the PACS.

Further, the formation of 3 New Cooperative Societies, NCEL, NCOL and BBSSL has broadened the horizon for PACS.

These societies will support farmers in getting remunerative prices for their produce including organic products in national and international markets.

To further strengthen the cooperative movement in the country, he said regular capacity building trainings are being organized with a vision to train 50% of cooperative members in next 5 years.

He also requested the Cooperative Departments of all the States and UTs to participate in the International Cooperative alliance planned to be held in November 2024.