Amit Shah to lay foundation stone of India's first national cooperative university in Gujarat
New Delhi, Jul 4: Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah will perform the ‘Bhoomi Pujan’ and lay the foundation stone of India’s first national-level cooperative university, Tribhuvan Sahkari University (TSU), in Anand, Gujarat, on July 5, 2025. The event will be attended by Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendrabhai Patel, Assembly Speaker Shankar Chaudhary, and several Union and state ministers, along with senior officials and dignitaries from the cooperative and education sectors. The establishment of Tribhuvan Sahkari University marks a significant step in strengthening the cooperative movement in India.
The institution is envisioned as a centre for excellence in cooperative education, training, and research, aligning with the government's broader objective of achieving prosperity through cooperation—‘Sahkar se Samriddhi’.
The university is being set up under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah to provide structured academic and skill development programmes tailored to the cooperative sector. Its offerings will span PhD programmes, postgraduate and undergraduate degrees, diplomas, and certificate courses, based on the multidisciplinary and flexible framework of the National Education Policy 2020.
In its initial phase, the university plans to create subject-specific schools both at its main campus and in other states. It aims to standardize cooperative education by building a national network of over 200 existing cooperative training institutions within the next four years. The institution is expected to meet the needs of India’s vast cooperative workforce—estimated at 40 lakh personnel and 80 lakh board members. Over the next five years, it aims to train 20 lakh individuals across sectors such as Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), dairy, and fisheries.
A major focus of TSU will be on research and development, with the establishment of a dedicated R&D council to drive innovation and support the development of affordable technologies tailored to rural cooperatives. The university will collaborate with reputed national and international institutions to embed global best practices in India’s cooperative landscape. The launch of TSU is being hailed as a landmark initiative to institutionalize cooperative education, enhance grassroots governance, and catalyse inclusive rural economic growth across the country.
