LS passes Bill to set up Tribhuvan Sahkari University
New Delhi:Cooperation minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said about 45,811 cooperative societies are under liquidation. Shah, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, said there are 8.32 lakh cooperative societies as per the National Cooperative Database.
“Out of the total 8,32,103 cooperative societies, 6,37,221 are functional, and 45,811 are under liquidation stage in India as of March 1, 2025,” he said. Over 1.50 lakh cooperative societies are non-functional.
Later, the Lok Sabha passed a Bill to set up ‘Tribhuvan Sahkari University’ in Gujarat’s Anand with an aim to create a qualified manpower for cooperative societies. The university has been named after Tribhuvandas Kishibhai Patel, who was one of the pioneers of cooperative movement in India and instrumental in laying the foundation of Amul, Shah said during a debate on the “Tribhuvan” Sahkari University Bill, 2025.
Shah took a swipe at some Opposition members for their demand that the university should have been named after Verghese Kurien, associated with the growth of milk cooperatives in Gujarat, saying that Tribhuvandas Kishibhai Patel was a Congress leader who gave job to Kurien.
The Amul’s journey started in 1946 has transformed into the one of the world’s biggest dairy brands with a turnover of over `60,000 crore, he said.
The proposed university will also address the long pending issue of capacity building of employees and board members in the cooperative sector in a pan-India and focused manner.
To further strengthen the cooperative sector in India, Shah said, a cooperative insurance company will be set up soon that will provide insurance coverage to all cooperative societies in the country.
He exuded confidence that the insurance company will emerge as the biggest private insurance company in time to come.
In the coming days, he said, ‘Sahkar Taxi’ on the lines of Ola and Uber will be set up which will register two-wheelers and four-wheelers and the money will directly go to the driver instead of the app operator.
To expand the cooperative movement, he said, additional 2 lakh Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) will be created before 2029 general elections.
With the addition, all villages will have their own PACS, he said, adding, all states have adopted model bylaws whereby 50 economic activities have been brought under their ambit.
According to the Bill, the present education and training infrastructure in the cooperative sector is “fragmented and grossly inadequate” to meet the present and future demand for qualified manpower and capacity building of existing employees in cooperative societies.
The Bill said it is essential that a comprehensive, integrated and standardised structure is created for education, training and research by establishing a national university to ensure a stable, adequate and quality supply of professionally qualified manpower for different categories of jobs in co-operatives such as managerial, supervisory, administrative, technical and operational.
The “Tribhuvan” Cooperative University Bill, 2025, aims to provide education and training in the cooperative sector through Tribhuvan Cooperative University, build youth capacity, establish centres of excellence offering degree programmes, distance education, and e-learning courses, and train approximately 8,00,000 individuals annually, while creating sector-specific 'Schools of Excellence' in areas like dairy and fisheries.
