#Thread: Why the creation of Ministry of Cooperation under the second most powerful man in the Union govt, Amit Shah, perhaps deserves more serious attention. Read on
1. Historically politicians of many hues, ideologies have played to control cooperatives in their regions to weild and influence this power and resource.
2. Lakhs oc crores move through these cooperatives every year with relatively very low levels of scrutiny by regulators.
3. Look at the milk cooperatives in Gujarat, for example. They have been sites of political capture by whichever party has wanted to control/win Gujarat.
4. The urban and rural cooperative banks across India (Maharashtra has a huge base of them) are controlled by politicians and hold immense influence and money. Also easy funneling routes.
5. Recently BJP govt changed the law to give RBI direct supervision of the urban cooperative banks. NCP supremo pawar opposed it.
6. There are nearly a lakh rural cooperative societies rolling in small aggregate funds and layers of hidden political money. Right now only under mild state supervision.
7. Think of the millions of Self Help Groups to influence.
8. The tussle over cooperatives in Gujarat - which BJP eventually won - teaches Narendra Modi govt about the importance of this febrile rural network of influence, pelf and power.
9. We urbane twitter triggered happy may be unaware of the importance of the cooperatives and the potential power that can be derived from having a stronger central command over them.
10. But a good politician who has dug her or his way up from the dark & shady below the radar financial markets of rural India knows better. Off what feeds these channels and how to feed off them. End.
Oh actually. Have you thought of the urban housing cooperatives also :). Noida Delhi and many more cities. Seats of localised corruption.
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