In view of the development and expansion of the cooperative sector in the country, which needs a lot of trained human resources, the Government has set in the motion setting up of India’s first ever cooperative university. Named as the Tribhuvan Sahkari University after Tribhuvan Das Patel, a pioneer among many others who laid the foundation of co-operatives in India, the Lok Sabha (lower house of the Parliament) on March 26 passed the Tribhuvan Sahkari University Bill 2025 paving way for India’s first ever cooperative university in 75 years of Independence.
India’s first university dedicated to the cooperative sector will have the capacity to enroll approximately 800,000 students annually across diploma, degree, and certificate programs. Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Amit Shah, emphasized that the infusion of new talent into the cooperative movement will strengthen the sector significantly. He highlighted that thousands of cooperative education and training institutes across the country, currently lacking standardized curricula, will benefit from this initiative. “We have started the work of designing the course keeping in mind the needs of the cooperative sector even before the university was formed. There will also be degree, diploma courses in the university and PhD degrees will also be given. There will also be short duration certificate courses for the existing employees,” the minister added.
“After the formation of a cooperative university, its diploma and degree holders will get jobs. Cooperative principles and cooperative activities will be expanded. The cooperative sector will benefit from new technology. Research and innovation will also increase and the cooperative sector will be strengthened on the ground. This will also strengthen the rural economy “Through this university, we will make a big contribution to the domestic as well as global value chain. New age cooperative culture will also start from this university.”
Shri Shah said that cooperatives were running unevenly across the country and anomalies had started to appear in the cooperative movement. He said that it was the reason for Modi ji to established the Cooperative Ministry. Since its establishment, the Ministry of Cooperatives has done a lot of work in the last three and a half years. He said that to develop cooperatives, a national cooperative database was prepared together with all the states and today information about cooperatives of every state, district and village is available in this database. Today there are 8 lakh cooperative societies in India and 30 crore people are their members.
Shri Amit Shah said cooperatives are the only sector that connects 130 crore people with the country’s development through self-employment and also protects their dignity. He said that after the formation of the Ministry of Cooperatives, a new chapter of development of cooperatives has started.
The announcement of Tribhuvan Sahkari University has been met with widespread approval. IFFCO has welcomed the announcement of Tribhuvan Sahkari University. Dr. Udai Shanker Awasthi, Managing Director, IFFCO statedt, “I appreciate the Tribhuvan Cooperative University Bill 2025, a historic step for the pioneering development of cooperatives. The establishment of this university will bring a new revolution in the cooperative sector. This is a very big step for Indian agriculture, farmers and rural development. This will further strengthen our villages.”
He said, Establishment of sector-specific schools across the country will help fertilizer cooperatives especially IFFCO, this will empower cooperatives with a new generation of professionals in the field of fertilizer cooperative management and marketing. Short-term courses for existing cooperative employees are a game-changer and a step which was never done at this scale. This university will also train the existing employees and cooperators making them for efficient being a great asset for the fraternity.
While expressing his appreciation for this step Shri Dileep Sanghani, Chairman, IFFCO said, this step will ensure that seeds for the next generation of the cooperative leadership will be nurtured and cared for under a system which run by the cooperatives for the cooperatives.
Director General of International Cooperative Alliance Shri Jeroen Douglas said that this a step which will not only strengthen the Indian Cooperative movement but through knowledge exchange and training programs this step will act as a cornerstone in the Global Cooperative movement and will add to its strength.
