The government has decided to establish three new national-level multi-state cooperative societies to promote organic products, seeds and exports. The national-level cooperative organic society, cooperative seed society and cooperative export society will be registered under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) Act, 2002.
A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "The cooperatives sector plays a pivotal role in creating a stronger economy and furthering rural development. In this context, the Cabinet has taken a crucial decision which will further our vision of Sahakar se Samriddhi (prosperity through cooperation)," Modi said in a tweet.
Union Minister Bhupender Yadav told media persons that the Cabinet had taken an important decision to set up three new multi-cooperative societies after 35 years, considering the fact that cooperatives were an important part of rural India.
The MSCS law was enacted in 1984. In 1987, TRIFED (Tribal Co-Operative Marketing Development Federation of India Ltd) was established under this law as a national-level cooperative body.
The three new multi-state cooperative societies will play a key role in realizing the goal of Sahakar se Samriddhi by boosting rural growth and farmers' income, Yadav added. The minister said cooperatives societies, including primary societies, district, state and national level federations, multi-state cooperative societies and Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) could become members of these new cooperatives.
"All these cooperatives will have their elected representatives in the Board of the society as per its bye-laws," Yadav said. There are about 8.5 lakh registered cooperative societies in the country with 29 crore members. The setting up of these three national-level cooperative societies will bring rural growth, he said.
Sharing the role of the proposed export society, the cooperative ministry said it would provide thrust to exports from the cooperative sector by acting as an umbrella organization for carrying out and promoting exports. It will also help cooperatives in getting benefits from various export-related schemes and policies of different ministries of the Central government in a focused manner. Basically, it will help unlock the export potential of Indian cooperatives in the global market.
According to the ministry, the proposed cooperative organic society will help in unlocking the demand and consumption potential of organic products in domestic as well as global markets. It will manage various activities related to the organic sector by providing certified and authentic organic products.
It will also help cooperatives and ultimately their farmer members in getting benefits of the high price of organic products through aggregation, branding and marketing on a large scale by facilitating testing and certification at an affordable cost. The society will manage the entire supply chain of organic products by cooperatives and related entities through member cooperatives. It will empanel accredited organic testing labs and certification bodies that meet the criteria specified by the society to bring down the cost of testing and certification.
It will utilize the services of the national cooperative export society for export marketing besides facilitating technical guidance, training and capacity building of organic producers as well as developing and maintaining a dedicated market intelligence system for them.
As far as the seed cooperative society is concerned, the ministry said it would act as an apex organization for the production, procurement, processing, branding, labelling, packaging, storage, marketing and distribution of quality seeds. It will develop a system for the preservation and promotion of indigenous natural seeds through various cooperative societies across the country with support from relevant ministries.
The society will help increase the seed replacement rate and varietal replacement rate, ensuring the role of farmers in quality seed cultivation and seed variety trials, production and distribution of certified seeds with a single brand name, by utilizing the network of all levels of cooperatives.