'On 29 May 2022, Amit Shah said at the Panchamrut dairy event in Gujarat, "I would tell you as the Minister of Cooperation that through the Cooperative Ministry, there is going to be a huge revolution in the area in the next five years under the leadership of Modiji.
'PM Modi and Amit Shah's interest in the sahakari sector is obvious because of the politics at play. Thirty crore Indians are involved in the cooperative sector. Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka are at its forefront. Many other states, including Kerala and Uttar Pradesh, are feverishly working to expand their cooperative sector.
'The annual turnover of PACS is around Rs 8 lakh crore. The business of urban and district cooperative banks stands at around Rs 5 lakh crore.
'For the Modi government, the target for the cooperative sector -- from village to the state level -- is a combined turnover of Rs 30 lakh crore after expansion and digitisation. It wants the cooperative sector to compete with the corporate sector in terms of efficiency and reliability.
'For decades, Indian politicians have treated the cooperative sector as a potent concoction of money, politics and development to reach out to the masses and enhance their party politics. Looking at the activities of the new ministry, it's clear that Shah's latest obsession is the sahakari kshetra,' writes Sheela Bhatt in
theprint.in, decoding the Modi government's plans for the cooperative sector,
here.