Lok Sabha passes Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill

Lok Sabha on Tuesday also passed the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to strengthen cooperatives by making them transparent and introducing a system of regular elections.

The bill was later approved by the Lok Sabha amid din by voice vote after a short discussion during which only three members participated. Piloting the bill, the union home minister and minister of cooperation Amit Shah said, “With the passing of this bill by this House, a new era will begin in the country's cooperative movement.”

Shah said the Union Cabinet has given approval to this bill to increase transparency, accountability and profit in multi-state cooperative societies.

“The Modi government has decided to form three new multi-state societies to strengthen cooperatives. The first society will act as a platform to export the produce of the farmers. The second society will associate small farmers with the production of seeds and through these farmers with 1 acre of land will also be able to associate with seed production,” the minister elaborated.

“The third society will provide suitable prices to the farmers for their produce by marketing their organic products across the country and the world,” he added.

In the bill, a provision has been made for the Election Authority to implement electoral reforms to conduct fair elections, and the authority will be as powerful as the Election Commission and there will be no government interference in it.

In addition, if one-third of vacancies are created on the board, a provision has been made to hold elections again for the vacant posts. Along with this, there are also provisions for discipline in board meetings and smooth functioning of cooperative societies. The chairman, vice-chairman and members of the committees will be required to call board meeting in three months. Shah said that a provision has been made to give majority to the equity shareholders to bring transparency in the governance of the cooperative society.

Reservation to one Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe and one woman in the committees has been provided in this bill which will increase representation of these sections in the committees.

The minister said that non-compliance of various constitutional requirements can lead to disqualification of the board members. No one will be given a job in blood relation or distant relation in the recruitment process of employees. He added that the Right to Information has also been included in this bill.

The Union government has also decided to set up a cooperative university for cooperative education in the coming days. The National Cooperative Database will also be started soon by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Shah further said that there was never a national cooperative policy in the country between 2003 and 2020. Before Diwali this year, the new national cooperative policy will be formulated which will put the map of cooperatives in front of the country for the next 25 years.

The cooperative movement in India is about 115 years old and this movement has given the country many important enterprises such as Amul, Kribhco, IFFCO, which are source of employment for lakhs of people today.

“No attention was paid to cooperatives in the last 75 years, nor was there any brainstorming on this in the country's parliament at the national or state level,” Shah said. “In the next 25 years after the formation of the Ministry of Cooperation, the cooperative sector will once again strongly contribute to the development of the country.”