The government on Tuesday announced the constitution of a 47-member committee, headed by former Union Cabinet Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, for drafting the National Cooperation Policy document.

The new National Cooperative Policy is being formulated to realise the government’s vision of ‘Sahakar Se Samriddhi’, the Ministry of Cooperation said in a statement.

The constitution of the committee was announced by the Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah.

“The Committee comprises experts of the cooperative sector; representatives of national/state/district and primary cooperative societies; secretaries (cooperation) and registrars of cooperative societies of states/UTs; and officers from central ministries / departments,” it said.

Mr. Shah had recently announced that a new National Cooperation Policy will soon be prepared, and will have a holistic approach from primary agriculture credit societies (PACS) upwards.

The new National Cooperation Policy document is being formulated with a view to fulfil the mandate given to the new Ministry of Cooperation, which includes strengthening cooperative movement in the country and deepening its reach up to the grassroots, and promoting cooperative-based economic development model.

“The new policy will go a long way in strengthening the co-operative movement in the country,” the Ministry said.

The existing National Policy on Cooperatives was formulated in 2002.

India has about 8.5 lakh co-operative societies with a member base of around 29 crore. These co-operatives are engaged in varied activities like agro-processing, dairying, fisheries, housing, weaving, credit, and marketing, among others.