CM Bhajan Lal Sharma said that cooperatives have an important role to play in realizing the Antyodaya Sankalp of the State Government. Empowering the weaker sections of the society through cooperatives is the priority of the government. He informed that Village Service Cooperative Societies are being set up at every Gram Panchayat level for the development and prosperity of the villages.
Addressing a review meeting of the cooperative department at CM Bhajan Lal Sharma’s residence, he said that the cooperative movement has an important role in making farmers economically strong. With this objective, the Government is bringing out a new Cooperative Code to amend the Rajasthan Cooperative Act, 2001 to suit modern requirements. Under this process, a committee has studied the cooperative laws of states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala.
The state government disbursed interest-free short-term crop loans worth over Rs 23,000 crore in the 2024-25 budget to increase farmers’ income, benefitting over 35 lakh farmers. In the budget for 2025-26, this amount will be increased to Rs 25,000 crore.
Emphasizing on the timely implementation of the budget announcements related to cooperatives, CM Bhajan Lal Sharma said that godowns with 100 to 500 metric tonnes capacity are being built in 150 Gram Seva Cooperative Societies so that there is a well-organized storage of agricultural products. He informed that interest free loan up to Rs 1 lakh is being provided to 1 lakh Gopalak families, which will be increased to 2.5 lakh families in the budget of 2025-26. Also, the annual amount given under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi will be increased to Rs 9,000.
CM Bhajan Lal Sharma informed that during Kharif 2024, the Cooperative Marketing Federation has procured pulses and oilseeds crops like Moong, Urad, Groundnut and Soyabean worth more than Rs 4,700 crore. At the same time, registration for procurement of mustard and gram for Rabi 2025-26 has started.
He directed the officials to give wide publicity to inform the farmers about the schemes of the central and state government and provide loans at low interest rate through cooperative banks. Also, efforts should be made to open more and more savings accounts of the villagers in cooperative banks.
In the review meeting, Principal Secretary Smt. Manju Rajpal informed that Rajasthan is a leading state in realizing the ‘Sahakar Se Samriddhi “vision of the Union Government. Under this initiative, 54 schemes are being implemented, including PEX computerization, setting up of multipurpose village service cooperatives and construction of granaries for food storage.