Amit Shah inaugurates EARTH Summit 2025, launches new ‘Sahakar Sarathi’ services

New Delhi, Dec 5: Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah inaugurated the EARTH Summit 2025 at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, unveiling more than 13 new digital services and products under the Sahakar Sarathi initiative. The new offerings include Digi KCC, Cooperative Governance Index, ePACS, Shiksha Sarathi, the World’s Largest Grain Storage Application, and other technology-driven tools aimed at modernising India’s cooperative sector. Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Assembly Speaker Shankar Chaudhary, state ministers, senior officials and cooperative sector leaders were present at the event.

In his address, Amit Shah said the second edition of the summit forms a key part of a three-part national dialogue series on rural development.

The deliberations, he said, would help shape a unified policy framework to be presented at the final summit in Delhi next year. He underlined that the government, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has placed rural development at the centre of national growth. Plans are underway to establish a cooperative institution in every panchayat and expand the sector’s footprint to over 50 crore members, he said. Highlighting Gujarat’s cooperative model, Amit Shah said improved integration of markets, dairies, PACS and cooperative banks had significantly boosted low-cost deposits and credit capacity. The government aims to replicate this model across the country, ensuring full utilisation of priority sector lending.

Amit Shah also emphasised the role of technology in strengthening cooperatives. NABARD’s introduction of more than 13 digital services under Sahakar Sarathi will bring district, state and urban cooperative banks under a unified tech platform, enabling real-time tracking, digital documentation, KYC and modern banking tools. He said efforts are underway to expand organic farming, develop a national lab network, boost exports through multi-state cooperatives, and scale up new initiatives such as Sahakar Taxi, which has already attracted over 51,000 drivers during trials. Shah concluded by calling cooperation a “Kalpavriksha” that supports millions of livelihoods and expressed confidence that the summit would help chart a comprehensive rural development roadmap.