Raipur, May 23, 2026: A day long regional workshop of six states of the eastern region was organised by the Union Ministry of Cooperation in Nava Raipur to bring to the fore the concept of “Prosperity from Cooperation” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The workshop was concluded under the joint aegis of Ministry of Cooperation, Government of India and National Dairy Development Board.
The workshop was chaired by Secretary Union Ministry of Cooperation, Dr. Ashish Kumar Bhutani. There was a detailed discussion on making the cooperative sector modernised, self-reliant and employment-oriented. Senior officials from Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal participated in the workshop.
The workshop is being considered as an important initiative towards rural development, farmers’ income enhancement and empowerment of cooperatives. Cooperative-based schemes will boost economic activities in villages and make farmers self-reliant.
In the meeting, the progress of the schemes run on the initiative of Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah was reviewed. The strategy of making cooperatives a strong backbone of the rural economy was discussed.
Special emphasis was placed on formation and strengthening of Dairy, Fisheries and Multipurpose Primary Agricultural Cooperatives (PACS). The progress towards formation of 2 lakh new dairy, fisheries and multipurpose PACS committees across the country was reviewed. The implementation of the world’s largest cooperative grain storage scheme was also discussed in detail.
Experts pointed out that PACS committees are being developed as multi-purpose rural service centres and not limited to loan distribution alone. Under this, activities like fertiliser-seed distribution, paddy procurement, public distribution system, dairy, fisheries, warehousing and rural entrepreneurship are being promoted. This will provide better facilities and employment opportunities to farmers and villagers at the village level.
In the workshop, there was a meaningful discussion on business diversification of PACS committees. The officials brainstormed on making the PACS committees economically strong and self-reliant, so that the rural economy can get a new momentum.
Additional Secretary of the Union Ministry of Cooperation Siddharth Jain, Joint Secretary Raman Kumar, Secretary of the Government of Chhattisgarh Cooperative Dr. C. R. Prasanna, Commissioner Cooperatives and Registrar Mahadev Kavre, NDDB Anand, Dr. V. Shridhar and Senior Manager Hrishikesh Kumar were present.
In addition, Additional Registrar Savitri Bhagat, Joint Registrar U. B. S. Rathia, Chief General Manager of NABARD D. K. Gawli, DGM Dhrup Raj Singh, Assistant Manager Mayur Chavan, Apex Bank General Manager Yugal Kishore, Markfed General Manager Dilip Jaiswal, Apex Bank DGM Bhupesh Chandravanshi, AGM Arun Purohit, L. K. Chaudhary and manager Abhishek Tiwari and senior officials of cooperatives, NABARD, Food Corporation of India, NAFED, warehousing, dairy and fisheries departments participated.
