Cooperative Movement to Make Every Village Prosperous: HM Shah

• Amit Shah inaugurates and lays foundation stones for projects worth ₹6,453 crore across 17 Rajasthan districts.
• Foundation stone laid for a new Saras Dairy plant in Alwar; four additional dairy plants inaugurated.
• Over ₹667 crore transferred to 67 lakh farmers under Mukhyamantri Kisan Samman Nidhi.
• Shah says empowering farmers, women, youth and the poor is key to achieving Viksit Bharat by 2047.

GG News Bureau
Alwar, 17th Aug: Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah on Sunday said the cooperative movement has the potential to transform India’s rural economy and make every village prosperous, as he inaugurated and laid the foundation stones for development projects worth ₹6,453 crore across 17 districts of Rajasthan from Alwar.

Addressing a public gathering in the presence of Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma and Union Minister Bhupender Yadav, Shah said the Modi government’s vision of a developed India by 2047 rests on empowering four pillars—youth, the poor, farmers and women.

Highlighting the day’s initiatives, Shah said farmers received benefits under the Kisan Samman Nidhi, dairy infrastructure worth ₹500 crore was being created for livestock rearers, employment opportunities were being expanded for youth and Saras Dairy projects were being strengthened to benefit women engaged in the dairy sector.

The Home Minister laid the foundation stone for a milk processing plant at Alwar with an initial capacity of three lakh litres per day, which he said would later be expanded to five lakh litres. He said timely payments through Saras Dairy would ensure that dairy farmers receive payment for their milk within seven days, strengthening rural household incomes.

Shah also inaugurated four Saras Dairy plants in Bhilwara, Jaipur, Pali and Rajsamand, built at a cost of ₹274 crore. In addition, four new district cooperative banks were launched in Phalodi, Balotra, Didwana-Kuchaman and Pratapgarh to provide farmers with interest-free loans.

He announced that over ₹667 crore had been transferred to 67 lakh farmers under the Mukhyamantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, while ₹152 crore was released through Direct Benefit Transfer under the Chief Minister’s Crop Insurance Scheme.

The Home Minister said foundation stones had been laid for 954 development works worth ₹6,453 crore in Alwar, adding that projects worth ₹5,500 crore had also been launched earlier in the day in Chittorgarh, taking the total value of development works initiated in Rajasthan on Saturday to ₹11,953 crore.

Emphasising the role of cooperatives in rural development, Shah said Rajasthan currently has around 44,000 cooperative societies and the government’s objective is to ensure that every village in the state is covered by the cooperative movement. He added that new warehouses are being constructed to strengthen agricultural storage infrastructure.

Listing the Centre’s initiatives for farmers since 2014, Shah said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had introduced a major scheme for agriculture or livestock every year, including the Gokul Mission, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, PM-Kisan, Agriculture Infrastructure Fund, Ministry of Cooperation and National Mission on Edible Oils.

He also said the Modi government had recorded the highest-ever procurement of foodgrains at Minimum Support Price (MSP) and significantly increased MSP for crops including bajra, mustard, wheat, cotton and jowar.

Concluding his address, Shah reiterated that the government would fulfil Prime Minister Modi’s vision of “Sahakar Se Samriddhi” by strengthening the cooperative sector and ensuring prosperity reaches every village in the country.