Centre to hold dialogue with states for uniform laws on Cooperatives

New Delhi: Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said his ministry will hold dialogue with states for bringing uniformity in laws for cooperatives in the country, as he stressed on the economic importance of the sector in economic empowerment of crores of poor. Stating that the demand for a Ministry For Cooperation was long standing, Shah said while the history of Cooperatives in India is over 100 years old, the sector suffered decline gradually. Shah, who is the first Minister of Cooperation, also called for uniform cooperative laws across states, and said his ministry will initiate a consultation process for this. Shah, while dismissing the requirement for a new law for cooperatives, said as per Constitution, state cooperatives come under the control of state governments and multi state cooperatives are controlled by the center. He said there was no problem with the current structure. “As per the Constitution, the state looks after state cooperatives, and the center looks after multi state cooperatives, no change is required in that. But we can have uniform laws across states through dialogue. My ministry will consult all states and we will bring a proposal to change laws on cooperatives,” he said. He also said his ministry had no intention of deciding the policy for cooperatives and invited suggestions for it. “Cooperation ministry does not want to decide the cooperative policy. Very soon, feedback will be invited on the ministry website in all Indian languages,” he said. Shah also said there are 8,55,000 cooperatives in the country, 1,77,000 credit societies are there. There are 33 state cooperative banks, over 12 crore members and 51 percent villages have presence of cooperatives:. He also called for more transparency in the processes including elections in cooperatives.