New Delhi: The Union government created a new ministry of cooperation on Tuesday to provide a separate administrative, legal and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movement in India. The announcement came a day before a possible cabinet expansion, the first since Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned to power in 2019 with an increased majority.

“In a historic move, a separate ‘ministry of co-operation’ has been created by the Modi government for realizing the vision of ‘Sahkar se Samriddhi’…it will help deepen co-operatives as a true people-based movement reaching up to the grassroots,” said a statement by the cabinet secretariat.

The new ministry will work to streamline processes for ‘ease of doing business’ for cooperatives and enable the development of multi-state co-operatives (MSCS), added the statement.“The central government has signaled its deep commitment to community-based developmental partnerships. Creation of a separate ministry for cooperation also fulfills the budget announcement made by the finance minister,” said the statement. In the past, the government has renamed several ministries to expand their work profile. In 2014, the ministry of environment was named as the ministry of environment, forests and climate change. Similarly, the ambit of the ministry of animal husbandry was expanded to include fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying. Last year, the ministry of human resource development was renamed as the ministry of education.