Home Minister Shri Amit Shah launched the onboarding of cooperatives on the Government e-Marketplace portal

August 9, 2022August 9, 2022 MTIMES

New Delhi: The Union Home and Cooperation Minister, Shri Amit Shah launched the on boarding of cooperatives on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal, today in New Delhi. The program organized by the Ministry of Cooperation, Government of India, the National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI) and GeM was also attended by Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Shri Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of State for Cooperation and North East Region Development Shri B.L.Verma and the NCUI President Shri Dilip Sanghani and many other dignitaries.

In his address, Shri Amit Shah said that today is a very important day in Indian history. In 1942, on August 9, Gandhiji began the Quit India Movement against British Rule and today another important work is being done task is taking place on the occasion of Azadika Amrit Mahotsav on August 9, in which access to GeM has been given to cooperative societies in the country. He said there is immense potential in the cooperative sector and the GeM portal will be a very useful platform for the expansion of this sector. The Union Minister of Cooperation said most of units of the government buy through GeM, so cooperatives should also start preparing for registration for supply on GeM to increase their market. He also appealed to the National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI) to expand marketing of cooperatives and for this there can be no better way than the GeM.

The Cooperation Minister said this sector has been neglected since Independence, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi is accelerating its expansion with historic reforms and modernization. Under the leadership of Shri Modi, the Ministry of Cooperation has taken a number of measures for expansion and in the last year the Ministry has been continuously working on 25 to 30 initiatives.

Amit Shah said population size is a great advantage in an economy, because ultimately the population is also the market. Till 2014, India’s population was 130 crore, but the market was only 60 crore, as 70 crore people did not have purchasing capacity. 60 crore people worried about their next meal and other basic needs and generations went through the same ordeal. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi opened bank accounts, provided gas cylinders, toilets, electricity, pure drinking water and food grains free of cost to the poor and as a result awakened the aspirations of these 60 crore people by fulfilling their basic needs and cooperatives have the potential to fulfil all these aspirations. Today after fulfilling their primary needs, these people have ambitions to move ahead in life by earning more money and through cooperatives they can fulfil these ambitions. Shri Amit Shah said if these 60 crore people have just Rs. 5,000, they can run the biggest of cooperatives.

Shri Shah said it is also very important to bring transparency in three areas within cooperatives – elections, recruitment and purchase. There can be no better medium than the GeM to bring transparency in procurement. The Union Minister of Cooperation said he is confident that the world will recognize this successful model of transparent government procurement in the next 5 years.