After its controversial decision prescribing educational qualifications for panchayat elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Rajasthan has introduced similar qualifications for those willing to contest elections to the cooperative bodies by amending the State Cooperative Societies Act.
The amendment, which came into force on October 4, provides for different qualifications for block, district and State-level cooperative societies.
The new rules will apply to about 10,000 cooperative institutions functioning across the State.
The minimum educational qualification for members of the primary cooperative societies will be class VIII, while the district-level societies will have class X as the qualification and the State-level bodies will have graduates as its members.
