Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah laid the foundation stone and inaugurated various projects of the Haryana Cooperation Department in Karnal today. Many dignitaries including the Chief Minister of Haryana, Shri Manohar Lal were present on the occasion.

In his address, the Union Minister of Cooperation said that recently the Union Cabinet under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi took a decision that the Government of India will set up a Cooperative Export House which will export all agricultural and handicraft products to the world markets. Shri Shah said that he had appealed at that time that the states should also set up their own export houses and those export houses should become members of the Government of India's export house. He said that the Haryana government has made a very good start by beginning this work so soon.

Shri Amit Shah said that it was a long standing demand of the people associated with Cooperation that a separate Ministry of Cooperation should be created in the country. He said that in the 75th year of independence, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi took a historic decision and formed a separate Ministry of Cooperation. He said that during the tenure of about one-and-a-half years, the Ministry of Cooperation of the Government of India has made new beginnings in many fields. He said that first of all the work of strengthening Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) was started, model bye-laws were established for them and recently PACS have been allowed to work as CSC (Common Service Center). Now these PACS will be able to do 20 different activities.

The country's first Minister of Cooperation said that the cooperative export house built with state-of-the-art facilities in Haryana's Karnal, all arrangements from testing, branding, bank linkage, letter of credit to export will be made. He said that till now HAFED has accomplished exports worth Rs.650 crores. Shri Shah said that Chief Minister of Haryana Shri Manohar Lal has established a joint animal shelter under the aegis of Haryana Dairy Development Cooperative Federation, and many enterprises like animal feed, veterinary medicine and vaccination etc. are associated with it. He said that not only the poor will be associated with animal husbandry, there will also be a clean environment in the entire village and Gobar gas can also be produced.

Shri Amit Shah said that a co-operative milk plant with the cost of around Rs 200 crore has also been inaugurated here today. The plant has the capacity to process 5 lakh liters of milk per day and it will benefit many cattle herders. Apart from this, an ethanol plant with a cost of Rs 150 crore has been set up and it has a capacity of 90,000 liters per day. He said that ethanol blending reduces the import of petroleum products in our country and the environment is also protected due to this organic fuel. Shri Shah said that ethanol blending was less than 1 percent at the time of government under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi was formed in 2014. This has increased to more than 10 percent today and it will be further increased to 20 percent by 2025. He said that this will increase the income of sugar mills, APMC's waste & waste paddy will be used and the country's import bill will also be cut drastically.

The Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that to make cooperatives relevant again and the backbone of rural economic activities, it is very important to spread awareness and for this Internet Radio 'Sahakaritha Vani' has also been launched here today. Through ‘Sahkarita Vani’ major scientific information related to farming, animal breeding and improvement in the quality of milk etc. will be available to the farmers from time to time. Shri Shah said that the NCDC, running under the aegis of the Government of India, has today released Rs 10,000 crore to Haryana for various works of Cooperatives, which will be provided to farmers' cooperatives on low interest.

Shri Amit Shah said that Shri Manohar Lal has done a lot to transform Haryana. He said that Haryana has always been associated with the country's security, but today we can say that every tenth soldier in the Army is from Haryana.  He said that it is a matter of great pride for Haryana that it is the land of Braves hearts. Haryana's Strong farmer is second in the country in production of food grains and milk, which is a huge achievement. Shri Shah said that the players of Haryana also win many medals for the country. He said that today Haryana is the country's first and only state with fully educated panchayats. Shri Shah said that by providing a gas stove to every household, Shri Manohar Lal has made Haryana the country's first smoke-free state. Apart from this, Haryana was the first to provide toilets in every house and the maximum numbers of ODF villages are also in Haryana. He said that the growth rate of Haryana's industrial production is 10 percent today. Apart from this, Haryana is about to become the largest software exporter and by registering 4119 start-ups, Haryana is taking the lead in this sector as well. He said that Haryana alone produces 50 percent of all the cars manufactured in the country. Shri Shah said that today Haryana has also taken many initiatives for the cooperative sector and these steps will prove to be ‘Sanjeevani’ for the poorest of the poor.

The Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that we have started a campaign to make the District Cooperative Bank NPA free. He said that in this year's budget, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has set a target of a big scheme for the country's cooperatives. Under this scheme before 2025 PACS will be established in every Panchayat of the country and 2 lakh new PACS will be made. He said that since independence 65 thousand PACS have been made, and now we have set a target of creating 2 lakh PACS in next 3 years. This shows how big the scale of the cooperative is going to be. He said that the government has also brought a new Cooperative Policy, and apart from this, 3 cooperative societies have also been fomred by the Government of India.

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RK/AKS/AS