In a move designed to weave Odisha's farming families deeper into the cooperative economy, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Saturday, 26 September 2026 inaugurated the 'Sambandh' Membership Maha Abhiyan — a state-level campaign to connect farmers to cooperative services, benefits and new livelihood opportunities — at the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) Krishi Shiksha Sadan, Bhubaneswar.

What the Sambandh campaign sets in motion

The launch is more than a ribbon-cutting. The Sambandh (ସମ୍ବନ୍ଧ — meaning 'connection' or 'relationship') campaign is aimed at drawing farmers into the cooperative fold through tangible services rolled out alongside the membership drive itself. Digital banking facilities and Krishi O Jana Seva Kendras (Agricultural and Public Service Centres) were among the services formally inaugurated, giving rural households a single-window touch-point for banking and agri-support.

The ceremony also saw the launch of milk collection centres, accelerated development of warehouse and mandi infrastructure, and the disbursement of input subsidies for sugarcane farmers — a targeted relief measure for a crop that demands high upfront investment. Perhaps the most immediate human impact: 66 individuals received appointment letters into the cooperative structure, adding employment to the list of deliverables on the day.

Odisha's long road to cooperative strengthening

Saturday's launches sit within a pattern that has defined Odisha's agrarian policy across successive administrations: incremental investment in farmer-facing delivery systems, combining digital access with physical infrastructure. The state has long recognised that cooperative viability hinges on reliable logistics — godowns that prevent post-harvest losses, mandis that give farmers a price-discovery platform, and milk collection points that create year-round income from livestock.

What the Majhi government is now layering on top is a membership drive that seeks to formalise and expand that cooperative base, potentially unlocking credit, insurance and input-support pipelines for farmers who have remained outside the system. The choice of OUAT — Odisha's premier agricultural university — as the venue signals an intent to align institutional knowledge with ground-level delivery.

The 66 appointments and what to watch next

The appointment of 66 workers into cooperative roles is a concrete, trackable output. But the bigger number to watch is Sambandh's total membership enrolment as the Maha Abhiyan rolls through Odisha's districts, and whether the newly inaugurated Krishi Seva Kendras and milk collection centres become operational at scale — or remain launch-day headlines. The pipeline of godown and mandi projects will also test whether Saturday's momentum translates into durable rural infrastructure.