The Chief Minister's Office of Rajasthan announced on Monday, 6 July 2026 that Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma addressed the 5th Foundation Day of the Ministry of Cooperation in New Delhi, highlighting the state's leading role in India's cooperative revolution over the past five years.

Context

Speaking at the event, CM Bhajanlal Sharma said that in the mere five years since the Ministry of Cooperation was established, an 'unprecedented revolution' (अभूतपूर्व क्रांति) has swept the country, and Rajasthan has had the 'privilege of playing a leading role' in it. He further noted that over the past two-and-a-half years, the cooperative movement in Rajasthan has reached 'village by village' (गाँव-गाँव तक).

The address was made under the hashtag #आपणो_अग्रणी_राजस्थान — roughly translated as 'Our Frontrunner Rajasthan' — underscoring the state government's positioning of Rajasthan as a model cooperative state.

Policy Backdrop

The Ministry of Cooperation was carved out of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare in July 2021, marking the Union government's intent to treat cooperatives as a distinct third pillar of the economy alongside the public and private sectors. Since its creation, the ministry has pursued model bye-laws for Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), a national cooperative database, and a broad digitisation drive.

Rajasthan, with its large agrarian and rural population, has historically operated dairy, credit, and marketing cooperatives. The state has aligned itself with the Union government's modernisation push, including the computerisation of PACS that has been underway since the early 2000s and has seen renewed momentum under the current policy framework.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries of the cooperative expansion are farmers and rural cooperative societies across Rajasthan's villages. Deeper penetration of cooperative networks at the grassroots is intended to improve access to credit, agricultural inputs, and marketing channels for small and marginal farmers.

CM Bhajanlal Sharma, who took office in December 2023 as the Bharatiya Janata Party's choice for the state, has positioned cooperative outreach as a key plank of his rural development agenda. The claim of village-level reach over the past two-and-a-half years aligns with the duration of his government's tenure.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to whether Rajasthan follows up the Foundation Day address with concrete budgetary allocations or new policy announcements — particularly on PACS digitisation and multi-state cooperative registrations — in the upcoming assembly session. The Union government's continued push to expand the cooperative ecosystem makes state-level implementation a closely watched metric for the sector's progress.