Recently government of India announced formation of Ministry of Cooperation. This new ministry will give impetus to the legal and financial framework of cooperatives in the country. Cooperatives work on the principle of collective bargaining power. It works for a common objective. There can be formation of a cooperative for any purpose like banking, sugar mills, milk collection societies among others.
The creation of ministry will provide for separate administrative and policy framework for cooperatives. It will streamline process of Ease of Doing Business for cooperatives. The ministry will work to enable mutli state cooperatives.
Cooperatives at ground level are formed with the money pooled by the stake holders who are owners of the cooperative too. In India cooperatives are growing I’m various sectors like for example, cooperative sugar mills account for 35% of the sugar produced in the country. In banking and finance, cooperative institutions are spread across rural and urban areas. Village-level primary agricultural credit societies (PACSs) formed by farmer associations are the best example of grassroots-level credit flow.
Constitutional Provisions related to Cooperatives are as follows,
1. The 97th Constitution Amendment Act, 2011 added a new Part IXB regarding the cooperatives working in India.
2. The word “cooperatives” was added after “unions and associations” in Article 19(1)(c) under Part III of the Constitution. This gives it the status of fundamental right of citizens.
3. A new Article 43B was added in the Directive Principles of State Policy (Part IV) regarding the “promotion of cooperative societies”.
Like agriculture, cooperation is in the concurrent list, which means both the central and state governments can govern them. In 2002, the Centre passed a Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act that allowed for registration of societies with operations in more than one state. The Central Registrar of Societies is their controlling authority, but on the ground the State Registrar takes actions on his behalf.
Women cooperatives are less than three per cent of the 8 lakh cooperatives in the country. It is expected that this ministry will help create an enabling environment and remove barriers for women entrepreneurs.
It is hoped that this cooperative movement will help harness the energies of states and centre. This will test the true federal spirit of India with a unitary bias. It can benefit a plethora of organisations and individuals and their livelihoods if used well.
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