Formation of Ministry of Co-operatives
Recently, the central government has formed a new ministry as the Ministry of Cooperation. The newly formed Ministry of Cooperation will implement the vision of ‘Prosperity through cooperation’.
Also, it will provide a separate administrative, legal and policy framework to strengthen the cooperative movement. This ministry will work towards streamlining processes for ease of doing business for cooperatives and enabling the development of Multi-State Cooperative Societies (MSCS).
Cooperative Society
- A co-operative society is a voluntary association of persons with common needs, who come together to achieve common economic interests.
- Different types of cooperative societies are consumer cooperatives, cooperative marketing societies, cooperative credit societies, etc.
Importance of cooperatives
- It helps to operate in a democratic manner and achieve social and economic justice.
- Providing agricultural credit in places where the state and private sector prove to be inefficient.
- Helps in creation of infrastructure like cold storage infrastructure and storage godowns including rural roads.
The following are the provisions made in the constitution:
- The 97th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2011 has given constitutional status to cooperative societies and in this regard a new part IXB has been added in the constitution just after Part IXA (Municipality).
- Under Part-III of the Constitution, the word “cooperative” was added after “Union and Association” in Article 19(1) (c), under which the right to form cooperative societies was basically right has been created.
- Article 43 (b) was added in the Directive Principles of State Policy-Part IV for “Promotion of Co-operative Societies”, under which “State, voluntary formation of cooperative societies, their self-governing functioning, democratic control and professional Will try to promote the management.
Source – The Hindu