Sahakar Cooptube NCDC Channel

• 06 Aug 2020

Why in News

Recently, the Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare launched the two initiatives of the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) - Sahakar Cooptube NCDC Channel and Guidance Videos on ‘Formation and Registration of A Cooperative’.

Key Points

• Sahakar Cooptube NCDC Channel:
  
  • The Channel aims to facilitate involvement of the youth in the cooperative movement.
    
    • Cooperatives lend strength to farmers to minimize risks in agriculture and allied sectors and act as a shield against exploitation.
  • The channel will give a boost to Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan under which the government has announced a series of transformative measures and sector specific financial packages to help agriculture.
    
    • The initiatives are steps towards One Nation One Market with the objective for India to become a food factory of the world.
• Guidance Videos:
  
  • These have been produced by the NCDC on ‘Formation and Registration of A Cooperative’ for eighteen different states in Hindi and regional languages.
  • These would help strengthen and deepen the major initiatives of the government to promote and form 10,000 Farmer-Producer Organisations (FPOs).
    
    • One such initiative is the formation of FPOs under the “One-Product One-District” approach.

National Cooperative Development Corporation

• Formation: NCDC was established by an Act of Parliament in 1963 as a statutory Corporation under the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare.
• Office: NCDC functions through its Head Office at New Delhi and multiple Regional Offices.
• Functioning:
  
  • The objectives of NCDC are planning and promoting programmes for agricultural produce, foodstuffs, industrial goods, livestock and certain other notified commodities and services on cooperative principles.
  • The NCDC has the unique distinction of being the sole statutory organisation functioning as an apex financial and developmental institution exclusively devoted to the cooperative sector.
• Recent Initiatives:
  
  • Mission Sahakar 22, which aims to double farmers’ income by 2022.
  • Scheme on Internship Programme (SIP) named Sahakar Mitra.

Cooperatives

• According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), a cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise. E.g. FPOs as cooperatives.
• An FPO, formed by a group of farm producers, is a registered body with producers as shareholders in the organisation.
  
  • It deals with business activities related to the farm produce and it works for the benefit of the member producers.
• Cooperatives in India (Agriculture):
  
  • They largely function as an association of small and marginal farmers and rural poor. They have a huge network of over 8.50 lakh organizations and 290 million members.
  • According to the government, cooperatives in India have proven their success in improving the condition of farmers and economic development.
• Provisions of Indian Constitution related to Cooperatives:
  
  • The Constitution (97^th Amendment) Act, 2011 added a new Part IXB right after Part IXA (Municipals) regarding the cooperatives working in India.
  • The word “cooperatives” was added after “unions and associations” in Article 19(1)(c) under Part III of the Constitution. This enables all the citizens to form cooperatives by giving it the status of fundamental right of citizens.
  • A new Article 43B was added in the Directive Principles of State Policy (Part IV) regarding the “promotion of cooperative societies”.

Source: PIB