🔆 India’s Cooperative Revolution: Sahkar se Samriddhi

📍 Key Highlights from International Cooperatives Day 2025
✅ Global Recognition: UN declared 2025 as International Year of Cooperatives; theme: “Cooperatives Build a Better World”
✅ Tribhuvan Sahkari University, India’s first national-level cooperative university, launched in Anand, Gujarat
✅ 3 million cooperatives globally; top 300 generate $2,409.41 billion turnover
✅ India has 8.42 lakh cooperatives, supporting rural prosperity & financial inclusion
✅ 280 million people worldwide employed through cooperatives (10% of global workforce)

📍 Major Initiatives in India
✅ PACS Modernization:
– 67,930 PACS approved for computerization
– 43,014 PACS offer CSC services; 727 as Jan Aushadhi Kendras
– 36,689 PACS upgraded as PMKSKs
✅ New Multipurpose Cooperatives: 18,183 dairy, fishery, MPACS formed
✅ White Revolution 2.0: 50% milk procurement boost target; 9,695 dairy co-ops formed
✅ Banking Reforms:
– RuPay Kisan Credit Cards: 32.1 lakh issued
– PACS as Bank Mitra: 9,200
✅ Fuel & Ethanol:
– 59 PACS running petrol pumps; 63 sugar mills to produce ethanol from maize
✅ Tax Reforms:
– MAT for cooperatives cut to 15%
– ₹46,524 cr tax relief for sugar mills; GST on molasses cut to 5%

📍 Policy & Governance
✅ New National Cooperative Policy 2025 ready
✅ Cooperative Database: 8.42 lakh mapped
✅ NCDC Lending: ₹95,000 crore disbursed in FY25
✅ SSE (Shared Services Entity) under NABARD for rural banks launched

📍 Global Presence
✅ ICA Global Cooperative Conference held in Delhi (Nov 2024) with 3,000+ cooperators
✅ Cooperatives seen as drivers of inclusive, democratic, and sustainable growth

📝 Prelims Question (UPSC CSE 2025)
Q. Which of the following is correct about Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS)?
(a) They provide long-term housing loans to urban consumers
(b) They are regulated by SEBI
(c) They form the grassroots structure of India’s cooperative credit system
(d) They are allowed to manufacture ethanol
Answer: (c)

📝 Mains Question (GS2/GS3)
Q. “Cooperatives are more than economic enterprises—they are vehicles of inclusive governance and rural prosperity.” Examine in light of recent government initiatives and global trends.

#GS2 #RuralDevelopment #GS3