When the story of India’s cooperative resurgence is written, the establishment of Tribhuvan Sahakarita University will stand not merely as an academic milestone, but as a revolutionary leap towards economic Swaraj and people-powered prosperity
When the chronicle of India’s cooperative resurgence is etched in history, the founding of Tribhuvan Sahakarita University will be hailed not as just another educational institution, but as a transformational moment — Bharat’s proud gift to the cooperative world and a blueprint for true economic swaraj. This university isn’t simply bricks and mortar; it is a Gurukul of modern Sahakarita, a sacred forge of leadership, where young minds will be shaped into visionary cooperative warriors, poised to carry the dream of Viksit Bharat 2047 with resolve and pride.
Flowing like a sacred Gangotri, the university’s hub-and-spoke model will reach every corner of India — from the hills of Himachal to the deltas of Odisha, from desert outposts in Rajasthan to forested interiors of Chhattisgarh. It will connect, uplift, and unify, ensuring that no dream is too remote and no voice too small. It will serve as a national knowledge trust, attracting the finest cooperative economists, extension specialists, grassroots innovators, and policy thinkers from Bharat and beyond.
The university will incubate India’s cooperative future across all verticals — from agri-tech and logistics to finance and governance. It will be the crucible where doctrines of people-owned markets are forged, where AI-integrated grain systems, blockchain-powered warehouses, and bioethanol and compressed biogas entrepreneurship take shape. It will redesign the social contract theory, empower local economies, and fuel India’s role as a leader among Global South nations, championing the cause of smallholder farmers, island states, and climate-affected communities at global multilateral platforms like the United Nations and the World Bank.
Aligned with Mission Karmayogi, the university will shape future regulators, build governance capacity, and drive cooperative-led reforms in line with Net Zero Emissions by 2070, not imposed, but rooted in the Indian way. Its models of climate-resilient cooperative farming, circular supply chains, and renewable-powered rural infrastructure will make ecological sustainability the heartbeat of inclusive growth.
When the world is at a crossroads where SDG targets are challenged and transformation to ESG I staking place, inequality widens with Ginni coefficient of 52, one of the highest and corporatisation deepens, India is responding not with resistance but with reinvention - through the Sahakar Path, with Ginni coefficient one of the lowest to only twenty six built on dignity, decentralisation, and ownership. Named after the revered Tribhuvandas Patel, the architect of the White Revolution, this university will do for agriculture, textiles, forestry, and logistics what Amul did for milk. It won’t just teach; it will transform. Graduates from this university will manage procurement, design agri-export strategies, digitise rural warehouses, and lead cooperatives from Arunachal’s valleys to the skyline of Mumbai.
They will become the custodians of India’s 2.5 lakh-strong warehouse grid — blockchain-integrated, powered by renewable energy, and governed with transparency. These young future graduate managers emerging from Tribhuvan Gurukul will combat financial and economic crimes through a coop eco framework lens and will create secure benefit transfer systems, root out leakages, and ensure every rupee reaches the last mile. Among them also will be cyber commandos and cooperative forensic experts, rebuilding trust in the rural digital economy, while also supporting the last mile criminal Justice administration reforms, which further will save the national fabric and will strengthen the National Internal Security system differently as done in Israel.
The days of MSP-centric thinking are behind us. The university will train young minds to think ahead — to align production with demand, to plan procurement with precision, and to transform rural India into a global agri-export powerhouse. These professionals will master global trade protocols, operate AI-enabled agri-market platforms, and turn India’s diverse produce into world-class brands.
This university is not a milestone. It is a mission. It embodies the Paanch Pran of our Hon’ble Prime Minister. A Developed India. Freedom from colonial mindsets. Pride in roots. Unity of purpose. And a deep sense of duty. Every student here will not just earn a degree — they will carry a pledge. A pledge to make Bharat a cooperative republic in the truest sense. In an era when India’s grain is stored by NCML, owned by Canada’s Fairfax, the farmer remains shackled. These entities profit without planting, storing without sharing, and dictate prices to those who till the soil. But this won’t last. Tribhuvan Sahakarita University will produce a new generation that dismantles this dependence — professionals who reclaim sovereignty, replace middlemen, and transform agri-finance from a system of control into one of empowerment.
Bharat, through Sahkar Se Siddhi, is empowered enough to combat the organised cartels led by Soros-backed private equity funds. Their cartelised kin will be shown the door by a new breed of cooperative professionals emerging from Tribhuvan Sahakari University. These graduates will not just know how to manage grain — they will know how to reclaim sovereignty. They will reimagine the very idea of agri-finance, ensuring that the farmer does not just grow but gains. No more MSP rhetoric in the mandis. No more waiting for arbitrary grading. Every PACS will have trained manpower to convert it into a mini-Mandi, agroclimatic zone-wise. The farmer will have his co-op warehouse, his QR-coded smart receipt, and his price intelligence system. These PACS-based cyber-secured, QR-coded receipts, real-time dashboards, and cooperative warehouses, powered by Tribhuvan Sahakari University graduates, will set the price, not take it.
And finance? It will no longer be the privilege of the urban elite. From rural credit to venture capital, the university will train young minds to build a cooperative BFSI ecosystem. They will run NBFCs in the hinterlands, manage crop and livestock insurance in tribal belts, and create digital platforms where farmers can access capital in real time. This is the future: from village to venture, from SHG to stock exchange.
In the EU, cooperative banks serve 210 million clients. In the US, co-ops generate over $650 billion annually. Bharat now joins that movement — not just as a participant, but as a leader. Drawing inspiration from Israel’s cooperative transit models and Germany’s cluster-based development, this university will pioneer new cooperative diplomacy, knowledge transfer, and export partnerships, with language training and intercultural education to support global cooperation.
This is Bharat’s answer to rising inequality. Not through taxation, but through ownership. Not through handouts, but through institutions.
The vision does not stop at agriculture. Tribhuvan Sahakarita University will build the architecture of a three-tier cooperative economy. The first tier — production — will aggregate farmers, artisans, miners, and forest dwellers through PACS, FPOs, and SHGs. The second tier will add value through processing units, khadi clusters, dairy plants, and community manufacturing. The third tier will connect to markets — both domestic and global — through cooperative banks, export houses, and digital trading platforms. This is not theory. This is economic engineering, done the Indian way.
The three-tier cooperative model — PACS at the base, processing in the middle, and global markets at the top — will no longer be theory. It will be action. From cotton fields to boutique brands, from food baskets to climate startups, Tribhuvan Sahakarita University will lay the foundation for India’s cooperative value chain economy.
As the International Year of Cooperatives is marked in New York and beyond, let history note Bharat didn’t just celebrate — it led. And at its helm was Tribhuvan Sahakarita University.
The Young India of tomorrow will not stand in line for jobs. They will create livelihoods through cooperative ecosystems, unshackled from credit card debt, EMI traps, and exploitative fintech. They will build a financial future rooted in the Rig Vedic ideal — “Let us think together, let us be of one mind.” A future where the mind is without fear and the head is held high, where knowledge is free, and every village becomes a centre of innovation, prosperity, and peace.
(The writer is Secretary-General, Confederation of NGOs of Rural India. Views are personal)
