Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah held a "Sahkar Samvaad" in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, meeting women associated with cooperatives in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan to mark the International Cooperative Year. Shah told the gathering that the cooperative model is a proven route to economic self-reliance for women, highlighting Amul, where about 3.6 million women drive annual business exceeding ₹80,000 crore. He also pointed to a women-run society in Dungarpur, Rajasthan that has built a ₹2.5 crore corpus through small savings to fund members’ micro-enterprises. While outlining government efforts to digitise primary agricultural credit societies and train young professionals, the minister urged participants to expand into activities such as grain storage and rural services. No new policy measures were announced, but Shah said the Centre would continue to back cooperatives as engines of jobs and income in villages.