Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma announced on Monday, 6 July 2026 that Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah performed the bhoomi pujan (ground-breaking ceremony) of the Sahkar Van Pariyojana — a joint environmental initiative by Amul and the National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India (NCCF) — at Sumel, Jaipur, in the state of Rajasthan.

Sharma described the project as a unique cooperative-driven afforestation effort, posting on X that it was accomplished 'kar-kamlon dwara' (by the auspicious hands) of Shah. He added that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the initiative would make Rajasthan 'aur adhik hara-bhara, samridh aur aatmanirbhar' — 'greener, more prosperous, and self-reliant.'

Context

The Sahkar Van Pariyojana is positioned as an environmental extension of India's cooperative movement, bringing together two of the country's largest cooperative bodies — dairy giant Amul and the consumer-focused NCCF — to pursue afforestation and green-development goals. The ground-breaking at Sumel, Jaipur marks the formal launch of the project in Rajasthan, a state with a large rural and agricultural population that stands to benefit from large-scale plantation drives.

The event was held under the banner of #SahkarSeSamriddhiKe5Saal — 'Five Years of Prosperity through Cooperation' — a campaign commemorating the fifth year since the creation of the dedicated Ministry of Cooperation in July 2021. That ministry was established by the Modi government to give India's cooperative sector a dedicated central institutional framework for the first time.

Policy Backdrop

Since 2021, the Union government has systematically extended the cooperative model beyond its traditional stronghold in dairy into new domains including forestry, sustainability, and rural livelihoods. Amul, headquartered in Gujarat, has long been the flagship of India's farmer-owned cooperative success and is now being deployed as a vehicle to combine farmer ownership with environmental objectives.

The NCCF, a central body promoting consumer cooperatives, is partnering in this initiative to broaden the project's institutional reach. Together, the two organisations represent a model in which cooperative infrastructure — already trusted by rural communities — is repurposed for ecological goals, mirroring earlier successes in other states.

Stakeholders and Impact

The project's primary beneficiaries are Rajasthan's farmers, cooperative societies, and rural communities in and around Jaipur. Afforestation through a cooperative framework means that local communities retain a stake in the plantation and its long-term upkeep, rather than the initiative being managed solely by government agencies.

Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, who took office in December 2023, has consistently aligned Rajasthan's state programmes with central cooperative and green-development priorities. The Sahkar Van launch reinforces that alignment and signals the state government's intent to position Rajasthan as a model for cooperative-led environmental action within the broader 'Sahkar Se Samridhi' framework.

What's Next

Stakeholders and policy observers will watch for the expansion of Sahkar Van projects to additional districts across Rajasthan and potentially other states, as well as any follow-up budget allocations or memoranda of understanding announced by the Ministry of Cooperation. The five-year cooperative anniversary campaign is expected to serve as a platform for announcing further such green-cooperative tie-ups across India.

The Jaipur ground-breaking could set a replicable template: leveraging existing cooperative networks to meet India's afforestation and rural self-reliance targets simultaneously, with implications for how the country approaches both its climate commitments and its agrarian economy.