Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah recently launched the National Cooperation Policy – 2025 in New Delhi.
This policy aims to fulfill Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Sahkar-se-Samriddhi’ (Cooperation to Prosperity). It focuses on integrating people’s aspirations and resources with the cooperative system to boost the sector’s contribution to India’s GDP and usher in a new phase of inclusive growth.
The policy envisions strong, economically self-reliant cooperatives that provide their members with opportunities to increase their incomes. It highlights the development of a vibrant cooperative ecosystem and its broad expansion as key steps toward this goal.
Among its goals, The National Cooperation Policy will encourage sugar cooperatives to produce ethanol using alternate feedstocks, including maize, to support the Ethanol Blending Programme, to reduce dependence on crude oil imports.
Since the Ministry of Cooperation was formed in 2021, it has introduced several initiatives to strengthen cooperative sugar mills, including:
-Providing relief from additional income tax for paying higher sugarcane prices to farmers up to Fair and Remunerative or State Advised Prices,
-Allowing sugar mills to claim payments made to sugarcane farmers before 2016–17 as expenditure,
-Reducing GST on molasses from 28% to 5%, among other measures.
At the policy unveiling, Amit Shah said a 40-member committee, chaired by former Union Minister Suresh Prabhu, drafted the comprehensive and forward-looking cooperation policy after extensive consultations. The committee held regional workshops, engaged with cooperative leaders, experts, academicians, ministries, and other stakeholders, and collected about 750 suggestions across 17 meetings. Consultations with the Reserve Bank of India and NABARD helped finalize the policy.
Shah described the new Cooperation Policy as a historic step toward realizing Prime Minister Modi’s vision of ‘Sahkar Se Samriddhi.’ He emphasized the government’s target for India to become the world’s third-largest economy by 2027 while ensuring inclusive development for its 1.4 billion people. He added that the country’s focus is on collective and equitable growth that involves contributions from all citizens, leading to national progress.
