New Delhi : The government has established three national-level multi-state cooperative societies, operating from the primary to the national level, including district and state societies offering transformative opportunities to innovate cooperative models for the 21st century.
Speaking at a summit organised by PHDCCI, Dr Ashish Kumar Bhutani, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation, Government of India appreciated PHDCCI for its efforts in promoting the cooperatives at PHDCCI’s National Summit on Innovating Cooperative Models for the 21st Century through 54 New Initiatives of the Ministry of Cooperation (MoC) held today at PHD House, New Delhi under the objective of innovate, cooperate and thrive.
Dr Bhutani emphasized that the ministry’s goal and slogan ‘Sahkar se Samriddhi’ (Prosperity through Cooperation) is to uplift the marginalized, and embracing this vision is imperative highlighting the success of cooperative models like Amul and IFFCO, which have demonstrated the transformative power of cooperatives in improving the economies of rural homes. Dr Bhutani also discussed the transformation of PACS into multimodal entities, which has empowered them to achieve tasks previously unattainable by enhancing efficiency and transparency.
Pankaj Kumar Bansal, IAS, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation, Government of India & MD, NCDC appreciated PHDCCI for its dedicated efforts towards the promotion of the cooperative sector. He said, “It is essential to understand that cooperatives should not be compared with profit-driven companies. The primary purpose of cooperatives is to provide maximum benefits to their members, and if this goal is achieved, then the cooperative is indeed successful.”
Vineet Nahata, Chair, Task Force on Cooperatives, PHDCCI said that the PHDCCI identifies the cooperative sector as one of the sunrise sectors. The commitment of cooperatives toward SDGs is crucial for our country. Cooperatives have a significant role to play in achieving these goals. During the COVID-19 pandemic, while corporates struggled, cooperatives excelled, demonstrating their resilience during challenging times. The opening of a university for cooperatives is a commendable step, fostering good practices and benchmarking cooperative principles uniformly.