A mega push for the cooperative sector

Two months after the Union Cabinet approved the registration of cooperatives as buyers on the Centre’s Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal, Union home and cooperation minister Amit Shah launched the onboarding of cooperatives on Tuesday. This step, the Centre hopes, will enable India’s cooperatives to purchase goods and services at competitive prices. The minister also asked cooperatives to register themselves as sellers on the platform to sell their products to government buyers. The plan to re-energise the sector has been in the making for some time. Last year, the government created a ministry to provide an administrative, legal, and policy framework to strengthen the sector. This was a vital step since there are nearly 8.54 lakh cooperatives, with a membership count of 29 crore.

India’s cooperative movement, which started in the British era, was born out of the distress of the last quarter of the 19th century when the Industrial Revolution crippled village industries and pushed back people to agriculture. The movement gained strength during the freedom movement. It continued to do so after Independence, drawing sustenance from the Gandhian thought that underlined the necessity for cooperation to create a socialist State. But over the decades, many cooperatives have failed to deliver. Studies have shown the cooperative structure has flourished in a handful of states. But many cooperatives need a fresh infusion of funds. The government’s move can restore the importance of the critical cooperative structure and provide it with a new lease of life, help the sector to innovate and diversify its product range, and ensure better income opportunities for its members.