Kollam: Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Friday said women’s empowerment through cooperatives was one of the core objectives of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He was speaking after inaugurating various initiatives of cooperative societies under the National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India Limited (NCCF) aimed at strengthening and promoting women’s empowerment in the cooperative sector at Kundara here.
Before starting his speech, Shah recalled that it was his first visit to the state after Kerala was renamed Keralam following the passage of a Bill in Parliament.
Shah said farmers and people associated with the cooperative sector had been demanding the creation of a separate union ministry for cooperation since Independence, but the demand had not been fulfilled.
“PM Narendra Modi created the Cooperation Ministry and took a major step towards rural development, agricultural development and women’s empowerment in the country,” he said.
The minister said that women empowerment through cooperatives is the core objective of our country’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
“He understands this very well and guides us that if the woman of a house becomes prosperous, the entire family becomes prosperous. The formula of ‘Prosperity through Cooperation’ (Sahkar Se Samriddhi) is essentially aimed at the rural and poor women of our country,” he said.
He said significant efforts had been made to promote women power (Matrushakti) and their empowerment over the last 10-12 years under PM Modi’s leadership.
Shah said the share of women in the labour force had increased from 23 per cent in 2014-15 to 40 per cent due to various facilities provided to women workers.
Under PM Modi’s leadership, bank accounts had been opened for nearly 36 crore women, he said.
“To protect the rights of Muslim women, Narendra Modi took the step to ban Triple Talaq,” Shah said.
He said Muslim women had earlier not been allowed to perform Hajj alone, but now they could undertake the pilgrimage without a male companion.
“Today, over 11,000 daughters are serving as officers in the Indian Armed Forces,” he said.
Shah also highlighted the increase in paid maternity leave to 26 weeks under the Modi government.
He said the target of creating three crore LakhpatiDidis had been achieved before 2024 and that the BJP-led government aimed to increase the number to six crore by 2029.
A Lakhpati Didi is a self-help group (SHG) member with an annual household income exceeding Rs one lakh.
Shah said The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) and NCCF are working effectively at the national level, with around eight lakh women farmers associated with NAFED and six lakh women farmers connected with NCCF.
“We plan to expand this further in the coming days,” he said.
Shah said Keralam had a long-established, strong cooperative infrastructure, with more than 23,000 cooperative societies operating in the state.
He invited Keralam Cooperation Minister M Liju to visit Delhi and said the Centre would provide special assistance and guidance in areas including dairy, seeds and organic agriculture.
Shah also highlighted the potential of Keralam’s blue economy, referring to its long coastline, backwaters and maritime tradition.
“From providing large trawlers for deep-sea fishing to production, packaging, branding, and exports, the Cooperative Department has many plans to enrich the blue economy. I request the Cooperation Minister of Keralam to visit us, learn about these plans, and ensure Keralam benefits from them, as I see tremendous potential here,” he said.
Keralam Cooperation Minister M Liju said the cooperative sector was the backbone of the state’s socio-economic fabric and contributed nearly 18 per cent of the state’s GDP.
He said nearly 13,000 cooperative institutions were effectively functioning in the state, covering rural and urban areas.
Liju said the state cooperative sector was undergoing a transformation and identified digital transformation, transparency, professional leadership, training and diversification as key focus areas.
“Most of our cooperatives are in good structure, even though we have identified nearly 450 cooperative structures which are in deposit crisis. The core problem of this deposit crisis is lack of transparency,” he said.
Liju sought the Centre’s support through flexible policies adaptable to the state’s requirements to transform the cooperative economy.
Union Minister Suresh Gopi raised the issue of the Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank scam in Thrissur, where several depositors are yet to receive their money despite the Enforcement Directorate attaching the accused persons’ assets.
Gopi urged Shah to take up the matter in Parliament and through the Cooperation Ministry to provide relief to aggrieved depositors.
Tourism Minister P C Vishnunadh, BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Kollam MP N K Premachandran were also present at the event.
