Cabinet okays amendments in Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act to bring transparency

The amendments have been brought in to improve the ease of doing business, said I&B Minister Anurag Thakur

Anurag Thakur, Minister of Information and Broadcasting. File. | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved amendments to the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act to bring transparency in the sector and reform the electoral process.

The Union Cabinet has approved the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2022, which seeks to amend the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur told reporters in New Delhi after the Cabinet meeting.

He said the amendments have been brought in to improve the ease of doing business.

The Bill will incorporate the provisions of the 97th Constitutional Amendment.

The amendments have been introduced to improve governance, reform the electoral process, strengthen monitoring mechanisms and enhance transparency and accountability.

The Bill also seeks to improve the composition of board and ensure financial discipline, besides enabling the raising of funds in the multi-state cooperative societies.

To make the governance of multi-state cooperative societies more democratic, transparent and accountable, the bill has provisions for setting up of Cooperative Election Authority, Cooperative Information Officer and Cooperative Ombudsman.