Make tech and people's interest integral to 'work culture' of cooperative sector: Amit Shah

Anand (Gujarat), Jul 6 (PTI) Union minister Amit Shah on Sunday urged cooperative sector leaders to make transparency, use of technology, and the interest of its members high up in their "work culture" to achieve success.

Shah made the remarks while addressing an event to mark the fourth foundation day of the Ministry of Cooperation on the campus of Amul Dairy here.

"Transparency, technology, and keeping the members (farmers and societies of the cooperative sector) is important," he said, adding, without technology, there is no prosperity for the cooperatives.

"Keeping people's interest at the centre of our work is also important," he said.

Shah exhorted the cooperatives to imbibe these three tenets in their work culture and propagate them from Jammu and Kashmir to 'Kamakhya' (a temple in Assam), and every village of the country.

He said the ten initiatives, launched during the event, including the start of a salt cooperative in Gujarat, will lead to the creation of a strong brand, just as Amul is.

He said, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the cooperative sector has seen the registration of 2 lakh primary agricultural credit societies (PACs), the foundation of Tribhuvan, the first national cooperative university, and the creation of three new national cooperatives in the dairy sector.

Shah urged the sector to follow five 'P's – 'people,' 'PACs,' 'platforms' (such as digital), 'policy,' and 'prosperity' — for it to thrive.

The minister said that four years ago, Modi laid the foundation of the Ministry of Cooperation with the mantra of 'Prosperity through Cooperation,' giving a new life to the cooperative system.

He said in the cooperation ministry's four years, more than 60 initiatives have been taken by the Centre, based on these five 'P's.

"The first P is 'people,' which means the people of India will be the primary beneficiaries of these initiatives. The second 'P' is 'PACs,' through which we are strengthening the primary cooperative circles.

"The third 'P' is 'Platform,' under which we have worked to initiate a range of cooperative activities. The fourth 'P' is for policy. The fifth 'P' is prosperity – prosperity for not just one person but of the entire society, prosperity not of a few rich people, but of the poor labourers and farmers," he said.

He said the annual turnover of the milk cooperative Amul will reach Rs 1 lakh crore next year, up from Rs 80,000 crore.

Shah also paid tributes to Syama Prasad Mookerjee on the occasion of his birth anniversary Kashmir would never have become an integral part of India without Mookerjee, he asserted.

"Mookerjee sacrificed his life for Kashmir, raising the slogan 'Ek desh mein do Vidhan, do Pradhan, aur Do Nishan nahi chalenge' (There can't be two Constitutions, two flags and two leaders in the same country)," he said.

The Union Home Affairs Minister said the entire credit goes to Mookerjee and Swami Pranavananda for West Bengal becoming a part of India.

"Mookerjee (who was then Industry Minister) resigned from Jawaharlal Nehru's Cabinet in protest against the policy of appeasement. The party, Jan Sangha, which he started with 10 members, has today become the world's largest political party, as the BJP, with a membership of 12 crore people," he said.

Shah also inaugurated some new infrastructure expansion projects of Amul, such as a state-of-the-art mozzarella cheese manufacturing facility, a fully automated ultra-high processing (UHT) plant, an ultra-modern cheese warehouse in Khatraj, and the extension of the Amul chocolate plant at Mogar.

Amul or Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd procures over 320 lakh litres of milk daily from 36 lakh farmer members and 18 member unions. PTI NES ACB VN VN