Page 38 - NIS English, December 16-31,2022

Cover Story 2022: Year of Willpower

ENERGY OF VILLAGE

We are constantly moving forward
SELF-RELIANCE AND to connect the spirit of cooperation

with the spirit of the golden age of
AATMANIRBHAR freedom. With this objective in mind,
a separate ministry for cooperatives
BHARAT IN COOPERATION was formed at the Centre. The effort

Alexander had once asked Aristotle, "Guruji, is to encourage a cooperative-based
how many are there in one?" Aristotle replied, economic model in the country.
"One can be more than many." The point was -Narendra Modi, Prime Minister
clear: if we united together and shared a
common desire and determination, we could
be more than just one. This is the power of
organisation and cooperation.
Recognising the importance of organisation
and cooperation, Prime Minister Narendra
Modi created a separate Ministry of
Cooperation at the Centre. The current
central government is following the mantra
of "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka
Vishwas, and Sabka Prayas." This mantra
in itself is the soul of cooperation. In the
programme "Cooperation to Prosperity,"
Prime Minister Modi stated, "Cooperation
is the medium of self-reliance of the village,
and the energy of AatmaNirbhar Bharat is
also in it." Cooperation is also an excellent
model of self-reliance. The greatest
strength of cooperation is that it increases
the organisation's strength through trust,
cooperation, and everyone's strengths.
New steps are being taken one after
the other to encourage cooperative-
based economic models. The effort of
the government is to make cooperative
societies and institutions competitive
according to the market. As a result, the tax
on cooperative societies has been reduced
in recent years.
There are about 8.5 lakh cooperative
societies in India, which have about 29 crore The Union Cabinet has approved amendments
members across the country. to the Multi-State Co-operative Societies Act to
Along with making India AatmaNirbhar, the appoint election authorities, ombudsmen, and
cooperative sector can play an important information officers for society elections.
role in making the 70 crore poor people in The Union Cabinet has given permission to
the country economically prosperous.
Cooperatives were equated with farmer cooperative societies to purchase from the
producer organisations which would greatly government e-marketplace GeM, which will
help in their prosperity. benefit 8.54 lakh societies.

36 New India Samachar December 16-31, 2022