Giving a reply to a Written Question on ‘Model Cooperative Villages’ in the Lok Sabha today, the Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah said, the Model Cooperative Village (MCV) programme is being jointly implemented by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and the Gujarat State Cooperative Bank (GStCB) Ltd. It was launched on 10th April, 2022 at Bavla village of Ahmedabad district in Gujarat. The programme is also being piloted in six selected villages of Gujarat, which are Adroda & Rethal (Ahmedabad), Adaraj Moti & Isanpur Mota (Gandhinagar), Pipero (Dahod) and Kolithad (Rajkot), by NABARD in close coordination with various stakeholders.

The aim of the MCV programme is to create ‘Atmanirbhar Gaon’ through the vision of ‘Sahakaar se Samridhi’, he said. The objective is to adopt a Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) centric, household-oriented approach to ensure provision of livelihood opportunities to at least two members of each household, aiming at enhancing the production per unit per establishment. Implementation of the programme in other States would be considered by NABARD after studying the outcome of the pilot projects in Gujarat, he added.

NABARD is playing a pivotal role in coordination between different stakeholders such as Government of Gujarat, Cooperative Banks (GStCB/ DCCBs), Community Based Organizations (CBOs), etc. in facilitating saturation of all possible eligible schemes and initiatives of the Government and other stakeholders, the Cooperation Minister said.

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NW/RK /AKS/AS/2160