 Branch of Government of India | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 6 July 2021 (4 years ago) (2021-07-06) |
| Jurisdiction | Government of India |
| Headquarters | New Delhi |
| Minister responsible | |
| Minister of State responsible | |
| Agency executive |
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| Website | |
TheMinistry of Cooperation is aUnionministry under theGovernment of India[1] which was formed in 2021. The ministry provides a separate administrative, legal and policy framework for strengthening thecooperative movement in the country. The ministry's creation was announced on 6 July 2021[2] along with its vision statement ofSahkar se samriddhi (transl. Prosperity through cooperation). Before the creation of this ministry, the objectives of this ministry were looked after by theMinistry of Agriculture.[3]
The ministry works in strengthening co-operatives at the grassroot level,[4][5] working to streamline processes for 'Ease of doing business' for co-operatives and enabling the development of Multi-State Co-operatives (MSCS).[6][7] The same was initially announced byFinance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman while presenting the2021 Union budget.[4]
The ministry was created with objectives of:[8]
Core Cooperative Society at National Level
Cooperative Banks at National Level
Development Cooperative Banks at National Level
Consumer Cooperative Societies at National Level
Worker Cooperative Societies at National Level
Housing Cooperative Societies at National Level
Producer/Marketing Cooperative Societies at National Level
| Portrait | Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency | Term of office | Political party | Ministry | Prime Minister | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From | To | Period | |||||||
 | Amit Shah (born 1964) MP forGandhinagar | 7 July 2021 | Incumbent | 4 years, 142 days | Bharatiya Janata Party | Modi II | Narendra Modi | ||
| Modi III | |||||||||
| Portrait | Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency | Term of office | Political party | Ministry | Prime Minister | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From | To | Period | |||||||
.jpg) | B. L. Verma (born 1961) MP forUttar Pradesh (Rajya Sabha) | 7 July 2021 | 9 June 2024 | 2 years, 338 days | Bharatiya Janata Party | Modi II | Narendra Modi | ||
.jpg) | Krishan Pal Gurjar (born 1957) MP forFaridabad | 10 June 2024 | Incumbent | 1 year, 169 days | Modi III | ||||
 | Murlidhar Mohol (born 1974) MP forPune | ||||||||
Department of Co-operation State Committees was created with objectives of:[8]
Co-operative societies, being a subject ofState List under the Seventh schedule of theConstitution, many experts raised concerns that, creating such a ministry at the central level would increase the power in the hands of the union government.[9]
Kerala's Minister of Co-operation and RegistrationV. N. Vasavan claimed that, "Creation of a new Cooperation ministry will make it difficult for state government to interfere in cooperative organisations and is an infringement upon the federal rights of the state governments. [....] This is an intrusion into the authority of the state governments."[10]