Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma on Saturday, 25 July 2026 launched the Bharat Taxi scheme at the Harish Chandra Mathur Rajasthan State Institute of Public Administration in Jaipur, positioning the initiative as a cooperative-ownership model to generate self-employment among the state's youth.

What Was Launched

The scheme introduces a cooperative framework under which taxi operators — referred to as sarathi (drivers/partners) — will function not as employees but as co-owners of the enterprise. Sharma said in his post: 'is yojana se jude sarathi sirf karmchari nahin balki iske malik honge' ('the sarathis associated with this scheme will not merely be employees but will be its owners'). The launch was attended by Union Minister of State for Cooperation Murlidhar Mohol and Rajasthan's State Cooperation Minister, along with other elected representatives and dignitaries.

Context

The Bharat Taxi scheme is framed around the slogan 'Sahkar se Samriddhi' ('prosperity through cooperation'), a phrase that has anchored the central government's cooperative policy since the Ministry of Cooperation was established in July 2021. That ministry, headed by Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah, was created to provide focused policy support for modernising cooperatives across sectors ranging from credit and marketing to services. The Rajasthan launch signals an extension of the cooperative model into urban mobility and transport services.

Sharma credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'visionary leadership' and Amit Shah's guidance for enabling the initiative, describing it as a step that would take India's cooperative sector to 'new heights.'

Policy Backdrop

India's cooperative movement has historically been concentrated in agriculture, dairy, and rural credit. The post-2021 policy push has sought to broaden cooperatives into logistics, services, and now mobility, converting what are typically gig or contractual arrangements into structured ownership stakes for workers. The Bharat Taxi scheme follows this template by giving drivers a proprietary stake rather than a wage relationship, which proponents argue improves income stability and accountability.

The Harish Chandra Mathur Rajasthan State Institute of Public Administration, a state-level training and policy institute, served as the venue — a setting commonly used by the Rajasthan government for flagship scheme launches tied to public administration and welfare.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries identified are Rajasthan's youth seeking self-employment and existing taxi operators who may transition into the cooperative structure. By framing drivers as owners, the scheme aims to address income precarity common in platform-based or contractor-driven transport work. Murlidhar Mohol's presence at the launch signals central government endorsement and possible policy or financial linkages at the national level, though specific funding details and operational guidelines have not been publicly confirmed.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to the rollout timeline, vehicle procurement norms, and any loan or subsidy linkages that underpin the scheme's cooperative ownership model. Whether the Rajasthan Assembly takes up complementary budgetary or legislative measures to support Bharat Taxi will be a key indicator of how deeply the initiative is institutionalised beyond the launch event. The scheme's success could also serve as a template for other BJP-governed states seeking to extend the 'Sahkar se Samriddhi' framework into the service economy.