New Delhi: Cooperation Minister Amit Shah informed Parliament on Tuesday that boards of multi-state cooperative societies will now reserve two seats for women and one for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST). He was responding to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s questions on boosting SC/ST participation in the cooperative sector.
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Shah said the government has also included similar provisions in the model bye-laws for Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), circulated to states to ensure wider representation of women and SC/ST communities.
Gandhi had asked about steps to promote SC/ST involvement in cooperative societies and whether exemptions were given from mandatory allocations under the SC/ST Sub-Plan for schemes under the Cooperation Ministry, particularly those funding ethanol plants.
Shah clarified that several ministry schemes already benefit SC/ST farmers, including PACS computerisation, grant-in-aid for cooperative sugar mills, and IT interventions. Exemptions were allowed, he said, since these schemes are implemented through cooperatives.
Under the sugar mills scheme, the government provided the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) with a one-time grant of ₹1,000 crore in FY 2022-23 and FY 2024-25. This allowed NCDC to raise extra market funds and extend ₹10,000 crore in financial assistance to cooperative sugar mills for ethanol plants, cogeneration units, working capital, and related needs.
So far, NCDC has sanctioned 109 loans to 56 cooperative sugar mills, with total aid worth ₹10,005 crore.
