Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah addressed the 'Sahkar se Samriddhi' (Prosperity through Cooperation) program organized on the occasion of 102^nd International Day of Cooperatives in Gandhinagar, Gujarat today. Many dignitaries including Gujarat Chief Minister Shri Bhupendra Patel, and Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation were present on the occasion.

In his address, Shri Amit Shah said that today is the birth anniversary of Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee and we owe to him for making Bengal and Kashmir integral parts of India today. He said that it was Dr. Mukherjee who led the movement against having two legislations, two heads at the top and two flags in one country and sacrificed his life fighting for this cause. Shri Shah said that today under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi the duality of having two legislations (Vidhan), two heads at the top (Pradhan) and two flags (Nishaan) has ended in Kashmir and the tricolour is flying there high with great pride. He said that today is also the death anniversary of Babu Jagjivan Ram ji, who initiated and took forward many development programs for the Dalits of the country and laid the foundation of social harmony and opposed religious conversion.

The Union Minister of Cooperation said that today is a very important day in many ways for all the people and workers associated with the cooperative sector. He said that on this day, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi had established an independent Ministry of Cooperation. He said that previous governments never paid heed to the demand of a separate Cooperation Ministry. He said that Shri Narendra Modi, who comes from the land of Gujarat, after becoming the Prime Minister, established an independent Ministry of Cooperation by understanding the need for cooperation in today's time.

Shri Amit Shah said that today the Government of Gujarat has taken a very important decision and announced a subsidy of 50 percent on Nano-Urea and Nano-DAP. He thanked the Gujarat government for the decision and said that farmers need to spray Nano-Urea only once and that there is no need to add Urea to the fields later during the crop’s growth. Shri Shah said that spraying Nano-Urea and Nano-DAP in the field is sufficient for increased production and will also save the soil. He said that the Modi government has made them cheaper and farmers should use them. He said that the Government of India has established National Cooperative Organic Limited (NCOL) to promote organic products and ensure fair price for their produce to farmers practising organic farming. Shri Shah said that today Bharat Organic Atta has also been launched by NCOL. Shri Shah said that Amul has also launched a shop of Organic products in Delhi. He said that both Bharat Organic and Amul are reliable and 100 percent organic brands. Shri Shah said that the Bharat brand stamp is put on organic products only after testing them using the world's most modern technology.

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that cooperation is not a new idea in India and our forefathers had adopted this 125 years old idea. He said that many great personalities like Sardar Patel, Mahatma Gandhi, Gadgil ji, Vaikunthbhai Mehta and Tribhuvandas Patel started it. He said that a time came when this idea started weakening gradually. Shri Shah said that Prime Minister Modi established a new and independent Ministry of Cooperation recognizing the relevance of cooperation. He said that today we are at an important juncture and the 125 years old cooperative movement is making a big contribution in various areas of the country. He said that the cooperative sector is contributing 20 percent in the distribution of agricultural loans, 35 percent in the distribution of fertilizers and 21 percent in production, 31 percent in sugar production, 13 percent in the purchase of wheat and 20 percent in the purchase of paddy. He said that the cooperative sector is making a very important contribution in the rural and agricultural economy. He said that we have to lay such a strong foundation of cooperation in the next 5 years so that cooperation can reach every village and household for the next 125 years.

Shri Amit Shah said that the Modi government has come up with two new schemes through cooperatives. He said that the government has taken important steps to promote Ethanol and for the prosperity of the farmers producing Maize. He said that the government have made arrangements that two big cooperative institutions of the government will buy Maize produced by the farmers online at the minimum support price (MSP) and Ethanol will be made from it. He said that this will not only make the farmers prosperous but will also help in increasing the country's foreign exchange reserves by reducing the import of Petrol. Shri Shah said that similarly, now National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) and Consumer cooperative institutions will also procure 4 types of Pulses at 100 per cent MSP. He said that we should promote ‘Cooperation among Cooperative’ institutions. He said that if we do all the economic transactions of the cooperative sector within the cooperative sector itself, then we will not need to bring a single penny from outside the cooperative sector. The Minister of Cooperation urged National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and all the State Cooperative Banks across the country that every Primary Agriculture Credit Society (PACS) and other cooperative institutions should open their account in the District Cooperative Bank or State Cooperative Bank, which will not only strengthen the cooperative sector but will also increase capital and confidence.

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given the slogan of 'Sahkar se Samriddhi' to the cooperative sector of the country. He said that in the last 10 years, Prime Minister Modi emancipated 30 crore people from poverty and freed them of their worries of daily needs. He said that PM Modi has provided facilities like house, electricity, toilet, drinking water, 5 kg free food grains and gas cylinder to crores of poor people of the country. Shri Shah said that now these crores of poor people want to contribute to the development of the country but they do not have capital. He said that the only way to contribute to the development of the country and to develop oneself without capital is cooperation. Shri Shah said that the only objective behind the mantra of 'Sahkar se Samriddhi' given by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is to bring confidence, happiness and prosperity in the lives of these 30-crore people who are backward even after 75 years of independence.

Shri Amit Shah said that the Union Ministry of Cooperation has taken many important steps for the cooperative sector. He said that the government has set a target that there should not be any state or district in the country where there is not a viable district cooperative bank and a viable district milk producer union. He said that only by doing this we will be able to expand the cooperative sector and make every rural and poor person prosperous. Shri Shah said that for this we have envisioned a Cooperative Panchayat. He said that even today there are 2 lakh panchayats in the country where there is not a single cooperative institution. He said that we have set a target that in the next 5 years we will work to create multipurpose PACS in these two lakh panchayats. Shri Shah said that the government has also made model bylaws for PACS and despite PACS being a state subject, every state from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Assam to Dwarka has accepted these model bylaws. Shri Shah said that the Government has also worked towards making PACS multi-purpose and today, out of 65,000 functional PACS in the country, 48,000 have taken initiatives towards becoming viable by adding some new activity to themselves.

Union Minister of Cooperation said that the central government has also formed three multi-state cooperative institutions - Organic Committee, Export Committee and Seed Committee - through which the path has been paved to enrich the lives of farmers. He said that the government will soon bring a National Cooperative Policy. Shri Shah said that 1100 new Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) have been formed in the country, more than 1 lakh PACS have accepted the new bylaws and now with the issuance of bonds worth Rs 2000 crore to National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), this institution will be able to work for the welfare of more cooperative institutions. Along with this, the urban cooperative banks have got the target of opening new branches, the limit of personal housing loan given by cooperative banks has been doubled, both the income tax benefits and the limit of cash withdrawal have been increased and Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, by enacting a law, has done the work of cancelling the income tax liability of Rs 15000 crore of sugar cooperative mills. The IT liability was pending for many years.

Shri Amit Shah called upon the workers of the cooperative sector across the country and asked them to make cooperatives a strong pillar of the country's economy. He said that we not only have to make cooperatives a strong pillar but also work to instil facilities, prosperity and self-confidence in the lives of crores of poor people of the country through this sector. Shri Shah expressed confidence that on the day when International Day of Cooperatives will be celebrated in 2029, there will not be a single Panchayat in the country where there will not be a PACS. He said that we all have to come together to make Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi's dream come true and take cooperatives forward to serve the poor.

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