India, July 4 -- When the Ministry of Cooperation was created in July 2021, it marked more than just administrative restructuring. It was a clear signal that India's vast cooperative sector, with over 8 lakh societies spanning agriculture, dairy, fisheries, housing, and credit, would finally have a national-level representation and platform for growth and reform. Four years later, it is evident that the Ministry has functioned as both a set of signposts, offering long-term direction, and a collection of weathervanes, responsive to immediate needs and evolving realities. The cooperative sector has long been a key yet silent backbone of the country's rural economy.

From dairy collectives to credit societies enabling small-scale entrepreneu...