Examine the role of the Ministry of Cooperation in reviving the cooperative movement.

Though Article 43B and the 97th Constitutional Amendment made promotion of cooperatives a Directive Principle, the sector long suffered from politicisation, dormancy and weak regulation. The Ministry of Cooperation, carved out in July 2021 to realise "Sahkar se Samriddhi", was created to give cooperatives a separate administrative, legal and policy framework [1] — and has since driven a visible, though uneven, revival.

Legal and governance reform

• The Multi-State Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Act, 2023 created a Cooperative Election Authority, Information Officer and Ombudsman to clean up elections and grievance redress [2].
• Model bye-laws for Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) widened their permissible business beyond credit, curbing single-activity dependence [3].

Digital and structural modernisation

• Centrally sponsored computerisation of PACS onto a common ERP platform links them to NABARD through State and District cooperative banks; the target was expanded to nearly 80,000 PACS, with a majority already operating on the software [3].
• A National Cooperative Database and the National Cooperation Policy, 2025, built on a whole-of-government approach, supply the first evidence-based roadmap for the sector [4].

Widening the cooperative footprint

• New national multi-state cooperatives for seeds, organics and exports connect village societies to national and global markets [3].
• Bharat Taxi, launched in February 2026 as India's first cooperative-owned ride-hailing platform, extends the model into the gig economy, making driver-Sarathis owner-members under a zero-commission structure [5].

Persisting limitations

• Cooperation remains a State subject (Entry 32, List II); central initiatives depend on State uptake, and dual regulation of cooperative banks continues.
• Registration and onboarding figures outrun evidence of active, profitable functioning, and the revival is regionally skewed towards western India.

The Ministry has thus shifted cooperatives from neglect to policy priority, supplying the institutional scaffolding the movement lacked. Sustaining it requires professional management, audited performance data and genuine State partnership — so that cooperatives deliver on Article 43B's promise of "autonomous, democratic and professional" functioning and on SDG-8's goal of decent work.