Cooperatives at a crossroads – The Hindu

TThe 2025 National Cooperative Policy, introduced by the Union House and Minister of Cooperation in July, gave a sharp response from Kerala, who has a tradition of incubating and maintaining cooperatives. Since the Bharatia Janata Party (BJP) government formed the Ministry of Cooperation under the direction of Mr. Shah in 2021, Kerala has been careful against what he described as unfair and unlawful attacks on the state region.

The policy filed a new war in a long conflict on the fair sharing of cooperative federalism and financial resources with the Left Democratic Front government led by CPI (M) in Kerala. The left government has constantly saw the Modi government’s actions on the cooperation sector with deep suspicion. Kerala’s wide cooperative sector network has a pistol public support between rural population, especially farmers, and manages significant financial wealth. The policy added fuel to the claim that wrestling is just a BJP Ruse, as part of the saffron party’s greater political goals in Kerala.

Shortly after the launch of the policy, the Minister of State Cooperation Vn Vasavan described it as “contrary to the constitution ve and described it as harmful to the interests of the cooperatives. Although the policy of national cooperation agrees to comply with the principles of cooperative federalism, the document ignores that in the seventh program of the Constitution of Constitutional societies is a state issue under the 32nd entrance of the state list. Kerala had similar concerns when the center tried to enforce the law of many State Cooperative Associations (Amendment) in 2023.

The unions of organizations and employees in the cooperative sector also reacted sharply to politics. At a recent congress, Kerala Primary Agricultural Cooperative Association made a decision condemning politics as a challenge to the concept of federalism. Kerala Cooperative Employees’ Association called the center as “an contrary to the constitution” by the center in order to have control over the sector and gift to companies. Citu -backed KCEU claimed that BJP has 2.94 Lakh Crore deposits in Kerala cooperative sector institutions.

Kerala’s cooperatives dates back to the beginning of the 20th century in Cochin, Travancore and Malabar. After the formation of the state in 1956, the law of the 1951 Travancore-Chochin Cooperative Associations, the 1969 Kerala Cooperative Associations Law, took place in 1969. Primary cooperatives serve as a major credit support system in the Kerala economy. It has a significant impact and financial piles.

A few years ago, the Kerala government merged Kerala State Cooperative Bank (Kerala Bank) and cooperative banks at the regional level. This was made as part of the policy decision to convert the three -layer cooperative credit structure including PACs, Regional Cooperative Banks and State Cooperative Bank into a two -layer system.

Meanwhile, the center’s decisions on the collaborative sector of the country came at a time when a serious problem was found on the allegations of the return of the money of several cooperative banks and society in Kerala and the return of the money of depositors. For example, the allegations of the Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank in the Thrissur region put the state government led by CPI (M) to defend the state government. With the reliability of the sector in Jeopardy, the government has overhauled the Law on Kerala Cooperative Associations in 2023, bringing assurances to block gaps and increase public confidence.

The future has the struggle between the center and the state for the policy of the future. However, Kerala’s cooperatives are at a intersection today, which have been seen as rural structures for decades. Accelerated urbanization has created new opportunities for changing employment requests between young people and sectors such as energy, transportation, science and technology and health. How they develop and adapt to the changing scenario will have a very important impact on the Kerala economy.