Committee formed to draft new National Cooperation Policy: Amit Shah

New Delhi: A national level committee was constituted on 2 September under the chairmanship of former minister Suresh Prabhu to formulate the new National Cooperation Policy, home and cooperation minister Amit Shah said in reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

The minister said that the committee comprised experts of the cooperative sector, representatives from national/ state/ district/ primary level cooperative societies, secretaries (cooperation) and Registrars of Cooperative Societies from States/UTs, and officers from central ministries/departments to formulate the policy.

“The formulation of the new National Cooperation Policy will help in realizing the vision of ‘Sahakar se Samriddhi’, promoting the cooperative-based economic development model, strengthening the cooperative movement in the country and deepening its reach up to the grassroots,” Shah added.

He said that consultations were held in this regard with the stakeholders and suggestions for formulating the new policy were invited from the Central Ministries/ Departments, States/UTs, National Cooperative Federations, Institutions and also from the general public.

The minister added that the national level committee will analyze the collated feedback, policy suggestions and recommendations to formulate the draft of the new policy.

The Centre has undertaken multiple steps, after the formulation of the Ministry of Cooperation, to strengthen India’s cooperative architecture and sync it with country’s economic and social needs, inter-alia, including computerization of PACS, model byelaws for PACS, national cooperative database, national cooperative policy, and amendment of the MSCS Act, 2002.

Member lending institutions in credit guarantee fund trust, reduction in surcharge on cooperative societies, relief under Section 269ST of IT Act, and lowered tax rate for new cooperatives were also initiated under the ministry.