COOPERATIVE OMBUDSMAN

• Cooperative Ombudsman is a statutory grievance-redressal authority for members of Multi-State Cooperative Societies (MSCS), instituted under the Multi-State Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Act, 2023.
• Appointed by the Ministry of Cooperation (Union); also functions as Appellate Authority over the Cooperative Information Officer (CIO) under the RTI-like transparency mechanism in the MSCS framework.
• Significance for UPSC: tests Part IX-B (Cooperative Societies), governance reform, and the Modi-era cooperative push (Ministry of Cooperation created 2021).