Science-led cooperative sector makes farming profitable: Amit Shah

Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Friday said agriculture becomes a profitable business when science is part of the cooperative sector. Shah also took a swipe at NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, saying just becoming a leader is not enough and questioned his contribution to the key sector when he was the Agriculture Minister in the Congress-led UPA government (2004-2014). ''You also need to work on the ground," he said while addressing a meeting of the cooperative sector at Malegaon in Maharashtra's Nashik district. Shah pointed out that to emphasise on the importance of science, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had included 'Jai Vigyan' to former PM Lal Bahadur Shastri's famous slogan of 'Jai Jawan Jai Kisan' (hailing soldiers and farmers).He said a separate entity, Bharat Cooperative Organics Ltd (officially named National Cooperative Organics Ltd), has been set up under his ministry for packaging and marketing of organic farm products. The minister insisted a strong cooperative sector denotes being 'Atmanirbhar' (self-reliant) in the truest sense.

Mumbai, Maharashtra: Union Home Minister Amit Shah says, "All transactions and financial dealings of cooperative institutions will remain within the cooperative sector itself. I want to inform you that, although the initial results are in, Cooperation among cooperatives will… pic.twitter.com/lYeObdebtO

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The Ministry of Cooperation was created as a separate entity by the Modi government in July 2021.The ministry is responsible for providing a separate administrative, legal and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movement in the country. There are 1.18 lakh members in the sector and his government had resolved several pending issues of the cooperation department.