Union Cabinet approves formation of three new cooperative societies

As per the decision taken by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) headed by Prime Minister, the Union Cabinet has approved the formation of three new cooperative societies to focus on seed availability to farmers, organic farming and exports, benefiting farmers.

• Need of the initiative: Cooperatives that are associated with farmers, farmers’ income and agriculture production are an important part of rural India. 
• The Cabinet approved the establishment of the;
• National Export Society,
• National Cooperative Society for Organic Products and
• National Level Multi-state Seed Cooperative Society
• Significance: These cooperative societies will help realise the vision of “Sahakar Se Samriddhi” (prosperity through cooperatives), and boost rural growth and farmers’ income.

What are Multi-state Cooperative societies?

• They are societies that have operations in more than one State, for instance, a farmer producers Organisation that procures grains from farmers from multiple states.
• At present, India has more than 1,500 multi-State cooperative societies, with the highest number being in Maharashtra.
• The MSCS Act 2002 was passed to govern such cooperatives whose members and areas of operation are spread across more than one state.

The Cooperative societies Act, 1950:

• It states that the state government is entitled to appoint a registrar to look after a cooperative society’s workings and appoint people to assist the registrar.
• Any society that decides to work for its members with a common vested interest must be registered under this act.
• A society will be registered under this act only if it has a member count of more than ten persons who has attained the age of 18 years.
• The objective of the society is to create funds for its members. The word limited must be in use with the name of such cooperative societies.
• Any questions regarding the membership, such as whether the society has been created for agriculture or non-agricultural purposes, whether the residence of a member will be a town or village etc., will be taken by the registrar and deemed as final.

Related Constitutional Provisions:

• The 97^thConstitutional Amendment Act 2011
• The right to form cooperative societies is a fundamental right (Article 19).
• New Directive Principle of State Policy on the Promotion of Cooperative Societies (Article 43-B).
• A new Part IX-B to the Constitution is titled “The Co-operative Societies” (Articles 243-ZH to 243-ZT).
• Creation of a new Ministry of Cooperation– which gave more acknowledgment to cooperative societies.