The Ministry of Cooperation has made various efforts for the betterment, empowerment and income generation for women in the cooperative sector. The major initiative taken by the Ministry in this regard are as under:

Reservation for Women on the Board of Multi State Cooperative Societies

The Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002 has been amended to mandate requirement of women Directors in the Board of Multi-State Cooperative Societies (MSCS). This will ensure representation of women in the Board of more than 1,550 Multi-State Cooperative across the country.

Reservation to Women Members in Primary Agriculture Cooperative Credit Societies (PACS) through adoption of Model Bye-laws

Model Bye Laws for the PACS have been prepared by the Ministry of Cooperation and adopted by the States/ UTs across the country. It mandates requirement of women Directors in the Board of PACS. This will ensure representation of women and their decision making in more than 1 Lakh PACS.

MSCS are regulated by the Central Government through the MSCS Act, 2002, amended by MSCS (Amendment) Act, 2023. Section 41 (3) of the amended MSCS Act envisage that the board shall consist such number of directors not exceeding twenty-one, as may be specified by the Bye- Laws, out of which one member shall be Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe and two shall be women in the board of MSCS consisting of individual and having members from such class or category of person.

Cooperative Election Authority (CEA) has been constituted in November, 2023 under MSCS (Amendment) Act, 2023, and has been responsible for conduct of elections for MSCS, since then. While issuing election programme, CEA ensures that in each election of MSCS seats are earmarked for two (2) women and one (1) SC/ST as per Section 41 (3). Since setting up of the CEA, 293 women directors have been elected in 146 elections of MSCS for Board of Director (including Casual Vacancy)

PACS are cooperative societies registered by the States under their respective cooperative acts. No such data about woman in board member of state registered cooperative societies is currently maintained by the Ministry.

National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), a statutory organization under the Ministry of Cooperation, Government of India, is implementing “Swayam Shakti Sahakar Yojna and Nandini Sahakar Schemes are fully funded and supported by NCDC.

NCDC through its 19 Regional Offices and 9 sub offices actively monitors the implementation of schemes and ensures access to timely credit flow to women cooperatives. Field visits/inspections are done periodically for proper monitoring of loan disbursement under the Schemes.

The details of financial assistance disbursed to women cooperatives during the last three years are as under:

 

(Rs. in Crore)

Year	Sanction	Release
2022-23	1620.55	1437.24
2023-24	1000.69	711.55
2024-25	2230.87	1355.61

 

This was stated by the Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah in a written reply to a question in the Rajya  Sabha.

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VV/RR/PR/PS/HS

(Release ID: 2150237)