Ahmedabad, Oct 4 (PTI) Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Friday asked the management of the Ahmedabad District Co-operative (ADC) Bank to take up the responsibility of providing health, nutrition and education-related services in the district.
Shah, who has served as the chairman of the bank in the past, asked officials to prepare a detailed project on these aspects and try to implement it on the ground with the help of other cooperative entities.
The Union minister was addressing people associated with the bank and other cooperative entities at Mahatma Mandir Convention Centre in Gandhinagar in a programme to mark the institution’s centenary.
“ADC Bank should take up the responsibility of providing health, nutrition and education-related services in Ahmedabad district with the help of other cooperative entities and free the Central and state governments from the responsibility,” he said.
The bank should prepare a detailed project on these three aspects and try to implement it on the ground with the help of other cooperative entities, Shah said, expressing confidence that the management would do the needful and assuring them of help.
He said ADC Bank has emerged as “India’s strongest district cooperative bank” with an annual profit of Rs 100 crore and zero non-performing assets.
Shah praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to create a separate Ministry of Cooperation, which he said has ensured “symmetrical development” of the cooperative entities across India.
He said the creation of the separate ministry will go down in history as one of the most important decisions by PM Modi.
“In the absence of a separate ministry, the sector had experienced uneven growth. People have been demanding a separate ministry because a joint secretary in the agriculture ministry was handling the affairs of this huge sector for 70 long years. It was PM Modi who gave a new lease of life to the cooperative movement by creating a separate ministry,” Shah said.
He said economic development cannot be the only parameter of development for a large country like India.
“A country cannot progress by achieving only economic development. I firmly believe that the cooperative movement can ensure the welfare of 130 crore people. The movement is more relevant today than it was 120 years ago when it began,” the Union minister said.
Citing an example, Shah said Amul, which has an annual turnover of Rs 60,000 crore, provides employment to nearly 35 lakh women in Gujarat, and some of them earn lakhs of rupees by supplying milk to the entity. PTI PJT PD ARU
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