Amit Shah inaugurated APMC Kisan Bhavan at Krishi Shivir in Junagadh, Gujarat

 

Union Home and Minister of Cooperation, Amit Shah laid the foundation stone of the District Bank Headquarters and inaugurated the APMC Kisan Bhavan at Krishi Shivir in Junagadh, Gujarat on 19 March.

An overview of the news

• He said that natural farming is the future of agriculture today. Natural agricultural products will be promoted with the Amul brand, which will benefit the farmers.
• The government is planning to expand this network to every district in the coming five years.
• Strong cooperative infrastructure is the only solution for the welfare of the farmers in the country.
• National level multi-state cooperatives, recently approved by the Union Cabinet to promote organic products and exports, will help farmers multiply their income over the next 10 years.
• The farmer of any village of the country can easily sell his produce in the world market through the Multi State Cooperative Export Society and get a fair price for his produce.

Multi-state Cooperative Societies

• The Union Cabinet in January 2023 gave its approval for the creation of three new multi-state cooperative societies under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) Act, 2002. These are-

1.     National multi-state cooperative export society, 

2.     National multi-state cooperative organic society 

3.     National multi-state cooperative seed society

• These societies will act as national nodal points for production, procurement, processing, branding, labelling, packaging, storage, marketing and distribution of quality seeds.

Multi-State Co-operative Societies Act, 2002

• Co-operative is a state subject, but there are many societies such as sugar and milk, banks, milk unions etc. whose members and areas of operation are spread over more than one state.
• This act was passed to govern the multi state cooperative societies.
• For example, the Karnataka-Maharashtra border has most of the sugar mills that procure sugarcane from both the states.
• Maharashtra has the highest number of such cooperative societies followed by Uttar Pradesh and New Delhi.