International Day of Cooperatives 2022: History, Theme and Significance

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International Day of Cooperatives- Relevance for UPSC Exam

GS Paper 2: Governance, Administration and Challenges- Development processes and the development industry- the role of NGOs, SHGs, various groups and associations, donors, charities, institutional and other stakeholders.

Recently, the Union Home and Cooperation Minister Shri Amit Shah attended the celebrations organized on the occasion of 100th International Day of Cooperatives in New Delhi as the Chief Guest.

About: Cooperatives can be defined as people-led enterprises owned, controlled and run by and for their members to achieve a common economic, social, and cultural goal.
Organization: The 100^th International Day of Cooperatives 2022 is being organized in India by the Ministry of Cooperation and the National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI).
Theme: The main theme of the International Day of Cooperatives 2022 event was “Building a Self-Reliant India and a Better World through Co-operatives”.
Role of Cooperatives Day: International Day of Cooperatives is organized to-
- Modernize the cooperative sector,
- Channelize the spirit of cooperation and contribution among the people,
- Create equality among communities and
- Show them the path of co-prosperity.

About: International Day of Cooperatives is celebrated annually on the first Saturday of July since 1923.
- It was officially proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly(UNGA) on the centenary of the International Cooperative Alliance(ICA) in 1995.
Mandate: International Day of Cooperatives is celebrated to increase awareness of cooperatives and promote the movement’s ideas of international solidarity, economic efficiency, equality, and world peace.
International Day of Cooperatives 2022 theme: Theme for 2022 is – “Cooperatives Build a Better World.”

1761: Scotland is known to be the place where the earliest recorded co-operative society was formed.
1844: In 1844 a group of 28 artisans working in the cotton mills in north of England established the first modern co-operative business.
1995: the ICA and the United Nations through Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives (COPAC) have jointly set the theme for the celebration of IDC.
2012: United Nations International Year of Co-operatives was observed in 2012.

About: A separate Ministry of Cooperation was created in July 2021 by the Government of India for realizing the vision of ‘Sahkar se Samriddhi’.
- An announcement for such a move was made in the union budget 2021 which proposed to set up a separate administrative structure for cooperatives.
Key Objectives: The Ministry of Cooperation aims-
- To provide a separate administrative, legal, and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movement in the country.
- To make the cooperative movement a true people-based movement by helping it reach the grassroots level.
- To streamline processes for ease of doing business for cooperatives and enable the development of multi-state cooperatives (MSCS).

The Constitution (97th Amendment) Act, 2011 added a new “Part IXB” right after Part IXA (Municipals) regarding the cooperatives working in India.
Article 19(1)(c) under Part III of the Constitution: provides for “cooperatives”, allowing all the citizens to form cooperatives by giving elevating it to the status of a fundamental right.
Article 43B was added in the Directive Principles of State Policy (Part IV) regarding the “promotion of cooperative societies”.