Journalism of Courage
Capitalism and communism are both “extreme” models of economic development and have caused unbalanced development, Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah said Monday, insisting only cooperatives can ensure inclusive development.
Addressing an event to mark the 100th International Day of Cooperatives, Shah called the “cooperative model” a “middle path” and said it will have to be popularised. “If we want to convert the unbalanced development into inclusive development then we have to… move forward with a resolve that a self-reliant India and a better world can only be created through cooperatives,” Shah said, adding it was India that gave the idea of cooperatives to the world.
Highlighting the significance of the cooperative sector, Shah said the cooperatives accounts for “19 per cent of the agricultural credit, 35 per cent of fertiliser distribution, 25 per cent of fertiliser production, 31 per cent of sugar production, 10 per cent of the production and procurement of milk, 13 per cent of wheat procurement, 20 per cent of paddy procurement and 21 per cent of fish production.”
“Is it the state of satisfaction? This is not the state of satisfaction,” Shah said. “India is a country where over 60 crore, about 70 crore people are considered as poor,” he said, adding nothing can be better than cooperatives to make them financially self-reliant by connecting them with the development of the country.
Hitting out at Congress, Shah said “these 70 crore (poor) people” were not in a position to even dream of development in the last 70 years because the previous government used to only have the slogan of “garibi hatao”. Under the Modi government, there has been a radical change in lives of these people, Shah said, adding people are now getting basic facilities.
