Amit Shah addresses the State Level Cooperative Conference in Bhopal as the Chief Guest

Amit Shah today addressed the State Level Cooperative Conference organized in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh, as the Chief Guest. Many dignitaries including Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav, State Cooperation Minister Shri Vishwas Sarang and Secretary of the Union Ministry of Cooperation Dr. Ashish Kumar Bhutani were present on the occasion.

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah said that there are a lot of possibilities in the three sectors of agriculture, animal husbandry and cooperatives in Madhya Pradesh and a lot of work is required to exploit them to the fullest. He said that for years the cooperative movement in the country was becoming moribund and was divided at different levels in the country. The reason for this was that the cooperative laws did not change as per the times.

Shri Amit Shah said that in our Constitution, except for multi-state cooperatives, all cooperatives are a state subject. He said that no initiative was ever taken to make laws according to the rapidly changing conditions in the country. Keeping in mind the geographical conditions, rainfall conditions, rural development, agricultural development and animal husbandry dimensions of each state, no thought was ever given at the national level. Shri Shah said that no thought was ever given, because there was no Cooperation ministry at the national level.
Shri Shah said 75 years after independence, the Prime Minister of the country, Shri Narendra Modi, established the Cooperation Ministry and he got the privilege of becoming the first Cooperation minister.

Union Minister of Cooperation said that Since the formation of the Ministry of Cooperation, there has been a significant change in the cooperative sector under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and now this sector is moving forward rapidly. He said that the limits that were in our Constitution are still there. Even today, cooperation is a state subject. Shri Shah said that the Government of India cannot make any legal changes in the field of cooperation. However, efforts have been made to revive the Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), promote the dairy sector, cooperation in the field of production, smooth management of urban cooperative banks, district cooperative banks and rural banks. He said that the Ministry of Cooperation first worked on creating model by-laws for PACS and sent it to the state governments for approval. Today the whole of India has accepted these model by-laws. Expressing gratitude to the states for accepting the model by-laws, Shri Shah said that this step has brought new life to the cooperative sector. He said that unless PACS is strengthened, the three-tier cooperative structure cannot be strengthened. He said that earlier PACS used to provide only short-term agricultural loans, in which they used to earn about half a percent income. But today PACS are providing more than 20 types of services and the new reforms will also increase the income of PACS.