New Delhi, Oct 23 (UNI) With the government setting the ball rolling for a new national policy on co-operatives, leaders representing the sector have said that the focus of the proposed document should be on implementation and clearly defined action plans.



"Reformulating national policy on cooperatives, and bringing in changes in Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act are very important for democratic growth of cooperatives," said Dileep Sanghani, President of National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI), the apex body of the sector.

Chief Executive of the NCUI and former IAS officer Sudhir Mahajan noted that the new policy needs to be reformulated to make it more relevant to changing times.

"Factors like technology, sustainable development, inclusive growth, active women and youth participation, etc clearly indicate the need for a paradigm shift,” he said while participating in a webinar.

Participants in the event recommended that a representative committee should be constituted by the government to draft national policy on cooperatives with the NCUI playing key role.

"The webinar recommended that the new policy must strengthen cooperative identity, and promote cooperatives as a distinct economic entity," a press note from NCUI said.

"Study of cooperation as a separate chapter in school syllabus, creation of Coop (co-operatives) Enterprises Development Fund, review of State Coop Acts, redefining Centre-state relations, devising HR policy for cooperatives by NCUI, need for updating coop legislation, etc were some of other important recommendations," it added.

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