Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah held 'Sahkar Samvad' with women associated with the cooperative sectors of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in Ahmedabad, Gujarat as part of the programs being organized under the International Year of Cooperatives 2025.

Addressing the 'Sahkar Samvad’ Union Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah said that the foundation stone of “Tribhuvan” Sahkari University has been laid in Anand district in the name of Tribhuvandas Patel. He said that the original idea of preparing young professionals in the cooperative sector was of Tribhuvandas Ji and this university is being established for this purpose. Tribhuvandas Ji had laid the foundation of cooperative in the true sense, due to which today 36 lakh women of Gujarat are doing business worth Rs 80 thousand crores. He said that when the announcement of naming the cooperative university after Tribhuvandas Ji was made in the Parliament, the question arose as to who this person is. In a sense, that was not appropriate. But it is a big thing for that person that even after doing a big work, he did not promote himself and only kept working. Shri Shah said that despite the opposition from Opposition parties, we named the university after Tribhuvandas Patel, because it is rightful for him to get fame.

Union Minister of Cooperation said that the government is bringing a lot of changes in the dairy sector. In the coming time, cooperative dairies will focus on the management of cow dung, management of food and health of animals and measures to increase income by using cow dung. Many small experiments have been done in this direction across the country. Efforts are being made to compile all the experiments and send their results to every cooperative institution and the Government of India is making plans for this. Shri Shah said that in the coming few years, cow dung will be used in cooperative dairies to make organic manure and gas. He said that in the coming days, some such arrangement will be made so that out of 500 families engaged in milk production in the village, 400 families will be in the cooperative. The work of their animal dung will also be given to the cooperative. The work of vaccination of animals will also be done. In the next 6 months, all these schemes will take a concrete shape and reach the cooperative institutions. He urged the milk producing mandis to put Tribhuvandas' picture in their cooperative institution so that people get acquainted with the personality who made the women associated with the cooperative sector prosperous in Gujarat. He said that the cooperative activity which started in the field of milk production with the establishment of the National Dairy Development Board in Anand has today spread to 19 states.

Union Minister of Cooperation said that PACS have been linked to CSC, Micro ATM, Har Ghar Nal, Bank Mitra and about 25 other activities. After the amendment in the bylaws of PACS, inspectors of District Cooperative Banks across the country have been trained. People associated with PACS should talk to the inspectors and know about the new changes. He said that revenue should also be generated from PACS. He said that PACS providing the services of Jan Aushadhi Kendra should create sufficient awareness among the people in the village that medicines are available at their centres at much cheaper rates than the market rate.

Shri Amit Shah said that if the farmers cultivating maize and pulses register on the NCCF app, then NABARD and NCCF can purchase maize and pulses from the farmers at the Minimum Support Price and if the farmer is getting a higher price in the market, then he can also sell his crop in the market.

In ‘Sahkar Samvad’, Shri Amit Shah said that when he retires, he will spend his time among Vedas, Upanishads and natural farming. He said that natural farming is a scientific practice which gives many benefits. Eating food produced without use of fertilizers and chemicals will keep you away from doctors and medicines. Apart from this, production increases with natural farming. He said that he has adopted natural farming in his fields and has seen an increase of almost one and a half times in production. Shri Shah said that there are big factories of urea, DAP and MPK. But if natural farming is done, then earthworm does the same work as done by urea, DAP and MPK. Earthworm eats soil and makes manure in the process. He said that by doing natural farming, the land is not harmed, water is also saved and people also remain healthy. He said that the Cooperative Ministry has formed a national level cooperative institution for the purchase of grains produced through natural farming. Apart from this, a cooperative society has also been formed for the export of farmers' crops and arrangements have been made to send the profit from export directly to the farmer's bank account.

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah said that being the Home Minister of the country is a big deal, because Sardar Patel Sahib was also the Home Minister. But the day I was made the Cooperation Minister, I believe that I got a bigger department than the Home Ministry. This is a ministry that works for the poor, farmers, villages and animals of the country. He said that in the coming days, he will organize 10 such Chaupals in three states each and work will be done in the Cooperation Ministry on the basis of the suggestions received from them.

During 'Sahkar Samvad', Shri Amit Shah said that research work is going on to find out the medicinal properties of camel milk. Rajasthan government and Gujarat government will soon jointly launch a scheme with the aim of getting higher prices for camel milk to camel rearers by using the medicinal properties of camel milk. When the rate of camel rearing and camel milk increases, it will naturally be very beneficial in the conservation of their breed.