Mumbai, June 20 (IANS) Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah said on Friday that the Ministry of Cooperation has taken several decisions to bring changes in the cooperative sector across the country.
He announced that the central government will set up a cooperative insurance company to facilitate insurance services in the cooperative sector and it will open many new opportunities.
Insurance solutions will be available for cooperative institutions from the new unit, as well as better risk coverage and financial security.
In addition, the central government decided to set up two lakh primary agricultural cooperatives (PACS), which will make their presence possible in every panchayat.
The new PACS will be multi-faceted and they will be able to do 22 different activities.
He said, “In addition to the current task of providing primary agricultural funds, PACS will do various tasks including running petrol pumps, maintaining gas distribution, maintenance under ‘every household tap from Jal Yojana’ and booking railways and air tickets.”
In his speech at the conference organized by Nafed, Union Minister Shah said that about 52,000 of 71,000 PACS have become active due to computerization and related initiatives.
He added, “Cooperatives can be a system for the whole world, but cooperatives for India are a philosophy of our traditional way of life. Coming together, thinking together, working together, standing with each other in happiness and sorrow-this is the soul of life philosophy of India.”
The Union Minister said, “Whether it is purchase on the MSP of farmers across the country or to provide 5 kg of free food grains to every poor under the PM Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana, NCCF and NAFED play an important role in all these initiatives.”
He said that to strengthen the cooperative movement, the government has prepared a database, which will also be available at the state registrar level.
Additionally, the Union Minister announced that the foundation stone of Tribhuvan Cooperative University, which will work at the national level, would be laid by August.
-IANS
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