The Union Minister of State for Cooperation and Civil Aviation inaugurated a new headquarters building for Shri Beereshwar Co-operative Credit Society Limited in Belagavi, Karnataka. The event highlighted the government’s push to strengthen the cooperative sector under the initiative “Sahkar se Samriddhi” (prosperity through cooperation). The society, which also celebrated its 36th Foundation Day on the occasion, operates across the country with significant membership and financial turnover.
What the government is doing for cooperatives
The Ministry of Cooperation has taken more than 160 decisions to strengthen the cooperative sector in recent years. A sum of approximately Rs 3,000 crore has been allocated to computerise nearly 80,000 village-level Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS). The government has created three Multi-State Cooperative Societies, to which nearly 70,000 cooperative institutions have joined as members.
Village cooperative institutions have been linked with 25 different types of business activities to expand their income sources. An Umbrella Organisation has been established to support the more than 1,500 Urban Cooperative Banks operating in the country. A separate platform called “Sahkar Sarathi” has been created for Rural Cooperative Banks.
To address the shortage of skilled workers in the sector, the government has launched India’s first cooperative university, “Tribhuvan” Sahkari University. The sector is expected to need approximately 17 lakh trained personnel over the next 10 years. New schemes such as the White Revolution, Sahkar Bima and Bharat Taxi have been introduced to expand the scope of cooperative activities.
Shri Beereshwar Co-operative Credit Society itself operates 263 branches across the country, serves approximately 4.60 lakh members, and handles business of more than Rs 9,000 crore.
What this means for you
If you are a farmer or a member of a village cooperative, your institution may access digital systems through the PACS computerisation programme. Rural and urban cooperative banks now have dedicated organisational support to function more smoothly. Young people interested in cooperative management have a new university-level education option through the Tribhuvan Sahkari University.