What is in news : Government announced the formation of a separate Union Ministry of Cooperation, a subject that till date was looked after by the Ministry of Agriculture

What is Cooperative movement in a political scenario :

• Organisations formed at the grassroots level by people to harness the power of collective bargaining towards a common goal
• Example – Village-level primary agricultural credit societies

Why a new ministry: Restore the importance of the cooperative structure in the country

Objective of new ministry

• Provide a separate administrative legal and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movement in the country
• streamline processes for ‘Ease of doing business’ for co-operatives and enable development of Multi-State Co-operatives (MSCS)