Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah today performed the Bhoomi Poojan of the country’s first cooperative university, ‘Tribhuvan” Sahkari University, in Anand, Gujarat. Many dignitaries including Gujarat Chief Minister Shri Bhupendrabhai Patel and Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation, Dr Ashish Kumar Bhutani were present on the occasion.

In his address, Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah said that today is a very important day for the cooperative sector when Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has paid tribute to Tribhuvan Das Patel Ji in a true sense. He said four years ago, Prime Minister Modi established the Ministry of Cooperation to instill hope in the lives of crores of poor and villagers of the country and to make them economically prosperous. Since the establishment of the Ministry of Cooperation, in the last four years, the Ministry of Cooperation has taken 60 new initiatives for the development, promotion and equitable growth of the cooperative sector in India. Shri Shah said that all these initiatives were taken to make the cooperative movement immortal, transparent, democratic, to develop it, to increase the income of farmers through cooperation and to increase the participation of women power and youth in the cooperative movement.

Shri Amit Shah said that today the foundation stone of the India's first cooperative university, “Tribhuvan” Sahkari University, has been laid in Anand. The university campus with span over 125 acres and will be built at a cost of Rs 500 crore. He said that laying of the foundation stone of “Tribhuvan” Sahkari University is an important initiative to fill all the gaps in strengthening the cooperative sector. He said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, the cooperative movement is progressing very fast across the country. He said that the foundation stone of this university is a revolutionary step under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi. Today, 40 lakh workers are associated with the cooperative movement across the country, 80 lakh are members of boards and 30 crore people, that is, every fourth person in the country, is associated with the cooperative movement.

Union Minister of Cooperation said that earlier there was no proper system to train employees and members of cooperative societies for the development of cooperative sector. He said that earlier the employees were given training after recruitment in cooperative, but after the formation of this university, only those who have undergone training will get jobs. Shri Shah said that due to this, nepotism in cooperatives will end, transparency will come and those who study from the “Tribhuvan” Sahkari University will get jobs. He said that in this university, the youth will not only learn technical expertise, accounting, scientific approach and all the qualities of marketing, but they will also learn the values of cooperation that the cooperative movement is for the Dalits, tribals and women of the country. Shri Shah said that many problems of the cooperative sector will be solved by this university.

Shri Amit Shah said that Prime Minister Modi has decided to form 2 lakh new Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) in the country, out of which 60 thousand new PACS will be formed by the end of this year. He said that 2 lakh PACS alone will have 17 lakh employees. Similarly, many district dairies are being established and the need for trained manpower for all these will also be fulfilled by “Tribhuvan” Sahkari University. Shah said that this university will work on policy making in cooperatives, data analysis and devising 5 years, 10 years and 25 years strategies for the development of cooperatives in the country.

He said that research has also been linked with this university. This university will not only prepare cooperative employees but will also produce dedicated cooperative leaders, like Tribhuvan Das Ji, who will lead the cooperative sector in future. Shri Shah said that CBSE has added cooperative as subject in the curriculum of classes 9 to 12. Gujarat government should also add cooperative subject in its curriculum so that common people can know about cooperatives.

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that the “Tribhuvan” Sahkari University has been named after Tribhuvan Das Kishi Das Patel. He stated that the foundation of this cooperative university has been laid to promote transparency, accountability, research, and the spirit of cooperative federalism. There could be no more fitting name for the university than that of Tribhuvan Das Patel.He said that Tribhuvan Das Ji had sown the seed of a new idea on this land under the guidance of Sardar Patel. Tribhuvan Das Ji formed a small group of milk collectors and through it, he ran a huge campaign to empower the farmers. Shri Shah said that in 1946, Kheda District Cooperative Milk Producers Union was established and today the seed sown by Tribhuvan Das has become a huge banyan tree in which 36 lakh sisters do a business of Rs 80 thousand crores and none of them has invested more than Rs 100. Shri Shah said that it was Tribhuvan Das Ji who had done the work of standing up the power of the cooperative organization in front of the exploitative policy of Polson Dairy. He said that today Amul has emerged as the most valuable brand of food items in the world. Due to the vision of Tribhuvan Das Ji, today the cooperative dairy of our country stands tall in front of the private dairies of the world. He stated that when a cooperative leader works with the welfare of every member in mind, their contribution to nation-building and national prosperity can be immense. Tribhuvan Das Ji set an exemplary model of this through his dedicated efforts.

Shri Amit Shah said that Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam and Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah form the foundation of our nation's core values and culture, and it is from these ideals that the spirit of cooperation has emerged.He said that this culture not only promotes economic welfare but also contributes to human welfare, animal welfare, and environmental conservation, and is now extending its impact to the upliftment of the poor as well. He said that this university will work to fill the vacuum of education, training and innovation in the cooperative movement which has 30 crore members. Shri Shah said that this university will work to take cooperatives forward across the country by preparing a uniform course for the training of cooperative institutions across the country along with the formulation of policies, innovation, research and training. He said that the university will also provide a platform to talents and from here the policy of cooperation will be made which will guide everyone. Union Minister Cooperation said that this university will also work to implement all the schemes on the ground through 2 lakh new and 85 thousand old PACS.

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that this university will fill the mega vacuum that was responsible to shrink our cooperative movement. With the University coming into existence the cooperative movement will flourish, grow and India will become a stronghold of cooperatives in the whole world. The policies and courses made in “Tribhuvan” Sahkari University will work to transform the economic model of cooperatives into a mass movement. He said that this university will provide qualified employees for all the big cooperative institutions. Shri Shah said that we want to bring cooperative taxis, we also want to create a cooperative insurance company, so we also need officers, employees and cooperative leaders with special knowledge of every field. He appealed to the cooperative sector of the entire country and said that cooperative training experts from all over the country should join this university and contribute.

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Benjamin Franklin is a local Salt Lake City plumber

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