Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates ICA Global Cooperative Conference 2024
PM launches the UN International Year of Cooperatives 2025
PM launches a commemorative postal stamp, symbolising India’s commitment to the cooperative movement
Cooperative should work towards Circular Economy to Climate resilient
For India, Co-operatives are the basis of culture, a way of life: PM
Co-operatives in India have travelled from idea to movement, from movement to
revolution and from revolution to empowerment: PM
We are following the mantra of prosperity through cooperation: PM
India sees a huge role of co-operatives in its future growth: PM
The role of Women in the co-operative sector is huge: PM
India believes that co-operatives can give new energy to global cooperation: PM
The
Prime Minister, Narendra Modi inaugurated the ICA Global Cooperative Conference
2024 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi today. Addressing the gathering, Modi welcomed
the Prime Minister of Bhutan Dasho Tshering Tobgay, Deputy
Prime Minister of Fiji Manoa Kamikamica, Union Home Minister Amit
Shah, Resident Coordinator of UN in India Shombi Sharp, President of the
International Cooperative Alliance Ariel Guarco, dignitaries of
various foreign countries and ladies and gentlemen to the ICA Global
Cooperative Conference 2024.
Modi said this welcome was not only from him
but from thousands of farmers, cattle breeders, fishermen, more than 8 lakh
cooperative societies, 10 crore women associated with Self-Help Groups and
youth involved in incorporating technology with cooperatives. He stated that it
was the first time the Global Cooperative conference of International
Cooperative Alliance was organized in India when there was an expansion of the
cooperative movement in India. He expressed confidence that the future of
India’s cooperative journey will get necessary insights from the Global
cooperative conference. He added that in return, the global cooperative
movement will receive a new spirit and latest tools of the 21st century from
India’s rich experience of cooperatives. Modi thanked the United Nations for
declaring 2025 as the International Year of Cooperatives.
Emphasising the centuries-old culture, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi said, “For the world, cooperatives are a model but for
India it is the basis of culture, a way of life.” Reciting verses from India’s
scriptures, Modi said it has been said in our Vedas that we all must walk
together and speak in unison, whereas our Upanishads tell us to live
peacefully, teaching us the importance of coexistence, a value which is also
integral to the Indian families and similarly to that of the origin of co-operatives.
Noting that even India’s freedom struggle was
inspired by the cooperatives, Modi remarked that it not only gave economic
empowerment but also gave a social platform for the freedom fighters. He added
that the Gram Swaraj movement of Mahatma Gandhiji gave fresh impetus to
community participation and started a new revolution with the help of
cooperatives of Khadi and Village industries. Modi was pleased that today, the
cooperatives have helped Khadi and Village industries to move ahead of big
brands in competition. The Prime Minister noted that Sardar Patel united the
farmers using milk cooperatives and gave a new direction to the independence
struggle. “AMUL, a product of India’s Independence Struggle, is one amongst the
top global food brands”, exclaimed Modi. He added that the co-operatives in
India have travelled from idea to movement, from movement to revolution and
from revolution to empowerment.
The Prime Minister said that today we are
working towards making India a developed country by bringing together
governance with cooperativism. “Today, India has 8 lakh co-operative
committees, meaning that the world’s every fourth committee is in India,” he
said, adding that their range is as diverse and wide as their numbers. Modi
underlined that co-operatives cover almost 98 percent of rural India. “About 30
crore (three hundred million) people, meaning one out of every five Indians is
associated with the cooperative sector,” he said. Highlighting that both urban
and housing cooperatives have expanded a lot in India, Modi said that
cooperatives play a huge role in the sugar, fertilisers, fisheries and milk
production industries, adding that there are about 2 lakh (two hundred
thousand) housing co-operative societies in the country. Highlighting a
significant stride made in strengthening India's co-operative banking sector,
Shri Modi said that over ₹12 lakh crore is now deposited in co-operative banks
across the country, reflecting the growing trust in these institutions.
"Our government has implemented several reforms to enhance the
co-operative banking system, including bringing them under the purview of the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and increasing deposit insurance coverage to ₹5
lakh per depositor," the Prime Minister stated. Shri Modi also noted the
expansion of greater competitiveness and transparency, adding that these
reforms have helped position Indian cooperative banks as more secure and
efficient financial institutions.
“India sees a huge role of cooperatives in its
future growth”, said the Prime Minister. Therefore, he added, that in the past
years, the Government had worked to transform the entire ecosystem related to
cooperatives through multiple reforms. He further added that the Government’s
effort was to make co-operative societies multipurpose. Modi remarked that the
Government of India created a separate Co-operative Ministry with this goal in
mind. He added that new model by-laws were legislated to make co-operative
societies multipurpose. He further added that the Government had connected
co-operative societies to the IT-enabled ecosystem where cooperatives are
linked with Co-operative Banking Institutions at the district and state level.
He noted that these cooperative societies were involved in multiple works
across villages ranging from running centres providing local solutions to
farmers in India, operating retail outlets of petrol and diesel, looking after
the water management work and installation of solar panels. The Prime Minister
remarked that with the mantra of Waste to Energy, today Co-operative Societies
were also helping in the Gobardhan Scheme. He added that Co-operative Societies
were now providing digital services in villages as Common Service Centres as
well. He added that the Government’s effort was to strengthen the Co-operative
and thereby increase the income of their members.
Modi informed that the Government was forming
multipurpose cooperative societies in 2 lakh villages where there was no
society at present. He added that the co-operatives were being expanded from
manufacturing to the service sector. “Today, India is working on the
world's largest grain storage scheme in the cooperative sector”, said the Prime
Minister. He added that this scheme, being executed by the cooperatives, had
warehouses being built across India in which farmers could store their crops
which would benefit the Small farmers the most.
Underscoring the government’s commitment to
supporting small farmers through the formation of Farmer Producer Organisations
(FPOs), the Prime Minister said, “We are organising our small farmers into FPOs
and providing necessary financial assistance to strengthen these
organizations.” Modi highlighted that nearly 9,000 FPOs have already been
established, aimed at building a robust supply and value chain for farm
co-operatives, from farm to kitchen and market. “Our effort is to create a
seamless link for agricultural products, leveraging modern technology to
enhance efficiency,” he added. Emphasising the role of digital platforms in
revolutionizing the reach of these co-operatives, the Prime Minister said that
his government is enabling co-operatives to sell their products through public
e-commerce platforms like Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) which will
ensure that the products reach consumers directly at the most affordable
prices. Modi credited the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) for providing
co-operatives with a new channel to expand their market presence. “These
initiatives reflect the government's focus on modernizing agriculture and
empowering farmers with the tools they need to thrive in a competitive, digital
economy,” he added.
Highlighting that Women's participation was
going to be a major factor in global growth in this century, Modi said that the
more the participation a country or society gives to women, the faster it will
grow. He added that today was the era of Women Led Development in India and
women had a big role in the Co-operative Sector as well. He further noted that
today women have more than 60 per cent participation with many women-led
cooperatives as the strength of the Co-operative Sector of India.
“Our effort is to increase the participation
of women in the management of co-operatives”, said Modi. He added that the
Government had amended the Multi State Co-operative Society Act in this
direction and had made it mandatory to have women directors in the board of
multi-state co-operative society. He further added that reservations were also
made for the participation of underprivileged sections and to make the
societies more inclusive.
Touching upon the massive movement of Women
Empowerment through women participation, in the form of Self-Help Groups, Shri
Modi noted that there were 10 crore or 100 million women of India as members of
Self Help Groups. He added that the government had given cheap loans of Rs 9
lakh crore or 9 trillion rupees to these Self Help Groups in the last decade. Modi
remarked that the Self Help Groups had generated huge wealth in the villages
due to this. He added that this could be emulated as a mega model of women
empowerment for many countries of the world.
Pressing on the need to decide the direction
of the global Co-operative Movement in the 21st century, the Prime Minister
said,” We will have to think of a Collaborative Financial Model to ensure easy
and transparent financing for the cooperatives. Modi emphasised the importance
of pooling financial resources to support small and financially weak
co-operatives. Such shared financial platforms can play an essential role in
funding large projects and providing loans to co-operatives. He further
highlighted the potential of co-operatives in enhancing the supply chain by
actively participating in procurement, production and distribution processes.
Underlining the need to create global
financial institutions which can finance co-operatives across the world, Modi
lauded ICA for its huge role and said it was imperative to move beyond this in
the future. He added that the current situation in the world presents a big
opportunity for the co-operative movement. The Prime Minister stressed that
there was a need to make co-operatives the flag bearer of integrity and mutual
respect in the world. For this, he added there was a need to innovate policies
and strategise. Underscoring the importance of making co-operatives climate
resilient, Modi said they should be connected to the circular economy and there
was an immediate necessity to promote start-ups in cooperatives.
“India believes that co-operatives can give
new energy to global cooperation”, emphasised the Prime Minister. He added that
Co-operatives could help the countries of the Global South, in particular, to
achieve the kind of growth they need. Therefore, he said, today it was
necessary to innovate new ways for international collaboration of co-operatives
and today’s Global conference could be of great assistance.
Emphasising India’s commitment to inclusive
growth, the Prime Minister said, “India is the fastest growing economy
today and our aim is to ensure that the benefits of this growth reach the
poorest of the poor.” Modi highlighted the importance of viewing growth from
the human-centric perspective, both within India and globally, saying,
“human-centric sentiments should prevail in all our work.” Reflecting on
India’s response during the global COVID-19 crisis, he recalled how India stood
with the world, especially with the countries from the Global South by sharing
essential medicines and vaccines. Underscoring India’s commitment to compassion
and solidarity in times of crisis, the Prime Minister said, “While economic
logic might have suggested taking advantage of the situation, our sense of
humanity led us to choose the path of service.”
Highlighting the importance of cooperatives
was not just about the structure, rules and regulations, Modi remarked that
Institutions can be formed from them, which could further develop and expand.
He added that the spirit of co-operatives was most important and this
cooperative spirit was the life force of this movement and comes from the
culture of cooperation. Citing Mahatma Gandhi that the success of co-operatives
does not depend on their numbers but on the moral development of their members,
Modi said that when there is morality, then right decisions will be made in the
interest of humanity. Concluding the address, he expressed confidence that
there will be continued work to strengthen this feeling in the International
Year of Co-operatives.
ICA Global Cooperative Conference and ICA
General Assembly is being organised in India for the first time in the 130 year
long history of International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), the premier body for
the Global Cooperative movement. The Global Conference, hosted by Indian
Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO), in collaboration with ICA and
Government of India, and Indian Cooperatives AMUL and KRIBHCO will be held from
25th to 30th November.
The theme of the conference,
"Cooperatives Build Prosperity for All," aligns with the Indian
Government’s vision of “Sahkar Se Samriddhi” (Prosperity through Cooperation).
The event will feature discussions, panel sessions, and workshops, addressing
the challenges and opportunities faced by cooperatives worldwide in achieving
the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly in areas
such as poverty alleviation, gender equality, and sustainable economic growth.
The Prime Minister launched the UN
International Year of Cooperatives 2025, which will focus on the theme, “Cooperatives
Build a Better World,” underscoring the transformative role cooperatives play
in promoting social inclusion, economic empowerment, and sustainable
development. The UN SDGs recognise cooperatives as crucial drivers of
sustainable development, particularly in reducing inequality, promoting decent
work, and alleviating poverty. The year 2025 will be a global initiative aimed
at showcasing the power of cooperative enterprises in addressing the world’s
most pressing challenges.
The Prime Minister also launched a
commemorative postal stamp, symbolising India’s commitment to the cooperative
movement. The stamp showcases a lotus, symbolising peace, strength, resilience,
and growth, reflecting the cooperative values of sustainability and community
development. The five petals of the lotus represent the five elements of nature
(Panchatatva), highlighting cooperatives' commitment to environmental, social,
and economic sustainability. The design also incorporates sectors like
agriculture, dairy, fisheries, consumer cooperatives, and housing, with a drone
symbolising the role of modern technology in agriculture.