{"id":36589,"date":"2023-07-29T08:25:28","date_gmt":"2023-07-29T02:55:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=36589"},"modified":"2025-04-21T23:10:28","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T17:40:28","slug":"the-multi-state-cooperative-societies-amendment-bill-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/the-multi-state-cooperative-societies-amendment-bill-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"The Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Cooperatives in India<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What are Multi-state Co-operative Societies?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Shortcomings with respect to the Functioning of Co-operatives<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Key Features of <\/strong><strong>the <\/strong><strong>Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill 2023<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Significance of the Bill<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Concerns regarding the Provisions of the Bill<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill 2023, which seeks to amend the Multi-State Co-operative Societies Act 2002, was passed by the Lok Sabha.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Cooperatives in India:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Co-operatives are <strong>voluntary, democratic, and autonomous organisations<\/strong> controlled by their members who actively participate in its policies and decision-making.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>After independence, <strong>the first five-year plan (1951-56),<\/strong> emphasised the adoption of co-operatives to cover various aspects of community development.<\/li>\n<li>According to the<strong> Article 43B<\/strong> (DPSP) of the Indian Constitution inserted by the 97th Amendment (2011), states shall endeavour to promote &#8211;\n<ul>\n<li>Voluntary formation,<\/li>\n<li>Autonomous functioning,<\/li>\n<li>Democratic control and<\/li>\n<li>Professional management of cooperative societies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What are Multi-state Co-operative Societies?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>These are societies that have <strong>operations in more than one state. For example,<\/strong> a farmer-producers organisation (FPO) which procures grains from farmers from multiple States.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Multi-State Co-operative Societies Act 2002<\/strong> provides for the formation and functioning of multi-state co-operatives.<\/li>\n<li>According to the Supreme Court of India, <strong>Part IXB &#8211; The Co-operative Societies <\/strong>(also inserted by the 97th Amendment),<strong> will only be applicable to multi-state co-operative societies<\/strong>, as states have the jurisdiction to legislate over state co-operative societies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Shortcomings with respect to the Functioning of Co-operatives:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Inadequacies in governance.<\/li>\n<li>Politicisation and excessive role of the government.<\/li>\n<li>Inability to ensure active membership.<\/li>\n<li>Lack of efforts for capital formation.<\/li>\n<li>Inability to attract and retain competent professionals.<\/li>\n<li>There have also been cases where <strong>elections to co-operative boards have been postponed indefinitely.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Key Features of <\/strong><strong>the <\/strong><strong>Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill 2023:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Election of board members:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Under the Act<\/strong>, elections to the board of a multi-state co-operative society are conducted by its existing board.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The Bill amends this to specify that the central government will establish the <strong>Co-operative Election Authority<\/strong> to conduct such elections.<\/li>\n<li>The Authority will consist of a chairperson, vice-chairperson, and up to three members <strong>appointed by the central government <\/strong>on the recommendations of a selection committee.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Amalgamation of co-operative societies:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The Act provides for the amalgamation and division<\/strong> of multi-state co-operative societies by passing a resolution at a general meeting with at least two-thirds of the members present and voting.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The Bill allows state co-operative societies to merge into an existing multi-state co-operative society, <strong>subject to the respective state laws.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Fund for sick co-operative societies:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The Bill establishes the<strong> Co-operative Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Development Fund <\/strong>for revival of sick multi-state co-operative societies.<\/li>\n<li>Multi-state co-operative societies that are in profit for the preceding three financial years shall finance the Fund.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Restriction on redemption of government shareholding:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The Act provides that the shares held in a multi-state co-operative society by certain government authorities <strong>can be redeemed based on the bye-laws of the society.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The Bill amends this to provide that any shares held by the central and state governments <strong>cannot be redeemed without their prior approval.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Redressal of complaints:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>As per the Bill, the central government will appoint one or more <strong>Co-operative Ombudsman<\/strong> with territorial jurisdiction.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The Ombudsman shall complete the process of inquiry and adjudication <strong>within 3 months from the receipt of the complaint.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><strong>Appeals <\/strong>against the directions of the Ombudsman may be filed with the <strong>Central Registrar<\/strong> (who is appointed by the central government) within a month.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Significance of the Bill:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>It will strengthen cooperatives<\/strong> by making them transparent and introducing a system of regular elections.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Bill seeks<\/strong> to align its provisions with those provided under Part IXB of the Constitution and address concerns with the <strong>functioning and governance<\/strong> of co-operative societies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Concerns regarding the Provisions of the Bill:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Effectively imposes a cost on well-functioning societies:<\/strong> Sick multi-state co-operative societies will be revived by a Fund that will be financed through contributions by profitable multi-state co-operative societies.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><strong>Against the co-operative principles of autonomy and independence:<\/strong> Giving the government the power to restrict redemption of its shareholding in multi-state co-operative societies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>\u00a0Q1) What is a farmer-producers organisation (FPO)?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The concept behind FPOs is that farmers, who are the producers of agricultural products, can form groups. To facilitate this process, the Small Farmers&#8217; Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) was mandated by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2)\u00a0What is the objective of the 1st Five Year Plan (1951-1956)?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The first five-year plan was launched in 1951 with the objective to uplift the economic condition of India by mainly focusing on improving the standard of the primary sector.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/multi-state-cooperative-bill-passed-by-lok-sabha\/article67120221.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Multi-State Cooperative Bill passed by Lok Sabha<\/u><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.livemint.com\/news\/india\/lok-sabha-passes-multi-state-cooperative-societies-amendment-bill-11690347273525.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>LM<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill 2023 will strengthen cooperatives by making them transparent and introducing a system of regular elections<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":36590,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-36589","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36589\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}