The Narendra Modi government has decided to create a new Ministry of Co-operation with an aim to strengthen the cooperative movement in the country, official sources said on Tuesday.
Why it matters?
The announcement comes amid a strong buzz about a massive Cabinet reshuffle soon. Government sources told Firstpost that the new ministry is being created for realising the vision of “sahkar se samriddhi” (through co-operation to prosperity).This ministry will provide a separate administrative, legal and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movement in the country, sources added.A minister in-charge for the new portfolio may be named on Wednesday. With this decision, the Central Government has signalled its deep commitment to community-based developmental partnership, sources added.The creation of a separate “co-operation ministry” comes after finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Union Budget speech, proposed setting up an administrative structure to further streamline the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ for cooperatives.
What will this ministry do?
As per sources, the new ministry will help deepen cooperatives as a true, people-based movement reaching till the grassroots. In the country, a cooperative-based economic development model is very relevant where each member works with a spirit of responsibility, they added.The ministry will work to streamline processes for ”ease of doing business” for cooperatives and enable development of multi-state cooperatives (MSCS).
BJP leaders hail move
Union minister Piyush Goyal, hailing the creation of the ministry, called it ‘another visionary step’.
In another visionary step, PM @NarendraModi ji has created a new Ministry of Co-operation for realising the vision of ‘Sahkar se Samriddhi’. This will give a massive boost to co-operative movement and create a true people’s momentum for development.https://t.co/Cts73UPMlz
— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) July 6, 2021
BJP national general secretary BL Santhosh said the move would “go a long way in strenghtening rural economy”.
A new ministry for “ Cooperatives “ is created with the motto of ‘ Sahakar Se Samruddhi ‘ . PM @narendramodi first created Jal Shakti ministry & now Cooperatives. This will go a long way in strengthening rural economy . — B L Santhosh (@blsanthosh) July 6, 2021
All eyes on expected Cabinet reshuffle
The buzz that was going on for quite some time intensified after a series of meetings between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP national president JP Nadda in the National Capital.
The news of the creation of the ministry comes amid reports of a much-anticipated Cabinet reshuffle.
According to sources, it is likely that four ministers could be inducted from Bihar in the Cabinet.
The sources told ANI that among the four likely to be included in the Cabinet — two are from Janata Dal (United), one from Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) fraction group Pashupati Paras, and one from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Earlier sources in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stated that the party is likely to accommodate a few of its prominent leaders and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) members in the Narendra Modi Cabinet soon. It has been two years since the NDA came back to power in 2019.
With inputs from agencies