Gandhinagar, Dec 5: Union Home & Cooperation Minister Amit Shah Friday inaugurated EARTH Summit 2025 at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat.
Amit Shah launched more than 13 new services and products under ‘Sahakar Sarathi’. These include Digi KCC, Campaign Sarathi, Website Sarathi, Cooperative Governance Index, ePACS, World’s Largest Grain Storage Application, Shiksha Sarathi, Sarathi Technology Forum, among others.
In his address, Union Home & Cooperation Minister Amit Shah said that this second summit is an important link in the series of three EARTH Summits being organized across the country. The purpose of these summits is not only to strengthen the rural economy but also to rethink various aspects of rural development and derive result-oriented solutions. He said that through these three summits, major issues pertaining to four ministries linked to the rural economy will be resolved, and the third summit to be held in Delhi next year will present a coherent policy framework derived from all deliberations.
Amit Shah said that Mahatma Gandhi had stated that if India has to progress, its development vision cannot be realized without keeping villages at the centre. However, a few years after Independence, we forgot this principle. Agriculture, animal husbandry, and cooperatives — the three main pillars of rural development — remained neglected for a long time. He said that in 2014, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a historic transformation began that made rural development the core axis of national development.
Amit Shah said that with a holistic vision, it has been decided that in the coming years, a cooperative institution will be established in every Panchayat of the country. Through cooperatives, more than 50 crore active members will be created, and the cooperative sector’s contribution to GDP will be increased compared to the present level. He said that when these goals are achieved, no citizen will be left behind — whether it is a rural woman engaged in animal husbandry or small farmers.
The Union Minister stated that thousands of crores of low-cost deposits have increased through the ‘Cooperation Among Cooperatives’ model in Gujarat. Now markets, dairies, PACS, and all cooperatives have been integrated under the district cooperative umbrella. He said that a model has been implemented wherein all cooperative institutions maintain their accounts and savings only with cooperative banks, which has significantly increased low-cost deposits and has begun the process of increasing the cooperative sector’s credit capacity fivefold — a model to be applied nationwide. Shri Shah said that through this summit, a concrete action plan is being prepared to utilize 100% of the Priority Sector Lending potential by adopting the Gujarat/Banaskantha model.
Amit Shah said that cooperatives cannot progress without technology. Smaller cooperatives lacked the capacity to bear the cost of technological infrastructure. NABARD has taken a historic step by providing 13+ digital services to all rural banks through ‘Sahakar Sarathi’. He explained that all district central, state, agricultural, and urban cooperative banks will now come under a single technology umbrella; modern banking technologies will be available without financial burden; recovery, disbursement, KYC, legal documentation, appraisal, website creation, etc., will become fully tech-enabled; and real-time tracking systems will be implemented in rural cooperative banks. He added that with RBI’s support, a strong cooperative banking framework is being developed, and soon a farmer holding an e-KCC will enjoy facilities comparable to high-end international credit cards.
The Union Minister said that based on nationally compiled cooperative data, expansion will be planned wherever a vacuum exists. Villages or regions requiring expansion will be identified immediately through software systems. The remaining scientific enhancements in the project underway for the past two years will be completed next year. He said that Gujarat has established a complete circular economy model in the dairy sector—products have been indigenized, and the benefits are going directly to farmers. This model is now planned to be implemented across the entire country.
Amit Shah said that around 49 lakh farmers are now engaged in certified organic production, and more than 40 organic products are available online. A national lab network is being established in collaboration with Bharat Organics and Amul. The target is to raise India’s share in the global organic market by 2035. He said that multi-state cooperatives will purchase produce from farmers, test it, and export it to global markets, ensuring that the benefits go directly into farmers’ bank accounts.
Amit Shah said that as an important initiative of the Ministry of Cooperation, ‘Sahakar Taxi’ has been launched, and over 51,000 drivers have registered even during the trial phase. In the coming years, it will become the country’s largest cooperative taxi company.
The Union Minister further informed that through Cooperative Insurance, Health, Life, Agriculture, and Accidental Insurance will all be brought under the cooperative model. Shri Shah said that strengthening cooperatives automatically strengthens agriculture, fisheries, animal husbandry, and dairy sectors. He said that without these sectors, rural development is not possible.
Extending his best wishes to the Earth Summit, Amit Shah said that cooperation is like a Kalpavriksha — whose roots lie in public welfare and whose branches connect the livelihoods of millions. He expressed hope that the summit’s open deliberations, problem identification, and solution-building will lead to a strong and actionable rural development framework. (PIB)
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