Shah meets cooperative sector honchos before taking charge of Ministry

In a move to get better idea before officially taking the additional charge of a newly created Ministry by the Central government, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday met some leading figures of the country's cooperative sector.

Shah's meeting took place three days after he was given additional charge of newly created Ministry of Cooperation by Prime Minister Modi while relocating the portfolios of his fresh batch of the Council of Ministers.

Those who met the Home Minister include National Cooperative Union of India Chairman Dileep Sanghani, the Chairman, and the Managing Director of the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) B.S. Nakai, and U.S. Awasthi, respectively, as well as Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) Chairman Bijender Singh.

The meeting took place at Shah's residence.

"Under the leadership of Modiji, we are determined to make cooperatives and all cooperative institutions more empowered," Shah tweeted after the meeting.

Officials said Shah has not yet assumed official charge of the Ministry of Cooperation, and he has started consultation with key persons and officials related to the sector.

The Central government said the Ministry of Cooperation "will provide a separate administrative, legal and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movement in the country" and do much to streamline the processes for "ease of doing business" and enable development of Multi-State Co-operative Banks" (MSCBs). Significantly, the MSCBs have now been solely taken under the Reserve Bank of India for regulatory purposes.

--IANS

rak/khz