Source: TNIE
Context:
Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah inaugurated the EARTH Summit 2025 at Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar. The summit unveiled over 13 digital services under the Sahakar Sarathi initiative, aimed at strengthening rural economy, cooperatives, and farmer empowerment.
Key Highlights:
New Digital Services under Sahakar Sarathi
- Digi KCC: Digital Kisan Credit Card for easy credit access to farmers.
- Campaign Sarathi & Website Sarathi: Tools for cooperative campaigns and information dissemination.
- Cooperative Governance Index: Assessing performance of cooperative institutions.
- ePACS: Digital platform for PACS operations.
- World’s Largest Grain Storage Application: For real-time storage tracking.
- Shiksha Sarathi & Sarathi Technology Forum: Education and technology support for cooperatives.
- Sahakar Taxi: Cooperative taxi network with 51,000 registered drivers.
- Cooperative Insurance: Coverage in health, life, agriculture, and accident sectors.
Strategic Objectives
- Establish cooperative institutions in every Panchayat.
- Expand cooperative membership to 50 crore people.
- Increase cooperatives’ contribution to India’s GDP.
- Develop a three-part summit series culminating in a national policy framework addressing rural development.
Key Models & Initiatives
- Gujarat’s ‘Cooperation Among Cooperatives’ model:
- Integrated credit, markets, dairies, PACS under district-level umbrellas.
- Strengthened cooperative credit fivefold; serves as a model for Priority Sector Lending.
- Digital & Technological Integration:
- NABARD initiatives for modern banking, real-time tracking, e-KYC, and appraisal services.
- e-KCC enables farmer credit similar to international standards.
- Circular Economy in Dairy: Gujarat model to be replicated nationwide.
- Organic Farming Promotion: 49 lakh farmers engaged in certified organic production; 40+ products available online with lab support for exports and direct payments.
