The government on Monday (February 3) introduced a Bill to establish a new university, the Tribhuvan Sahkari University, on the campus of the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) in Gujarat.

Named after Gujarat’s eminent cooperative leader Tribhuvandas Patel, founder of Amul Dairy, the university will focus on training skilled professionals for various roles in the cooperative sector.Once the Bill becomes an Act, IRMA will become part of the new university as a Centre of Excellence for rural management.

• Introduced by Minister of State for Cooperation, Krishan Pal Gurjar, the Bill aims to promote cooperative education, training, and R&D to strengthen India's cooperative movement.
• The university plans to establish sector-specific schools in areas like dairy, fishery, banking, and cooperative finance, either at its Anand campus or in leading states. 
• It will also create a nationwide network of affiliated cooperative education and training institutes to achieve its objectives. It highlights the need for a national cooperative university due to the fragmented and inadequate current education infrastructure. 
• It also states that the central government will appoint an eminent chancellor, and the university will collaborate with other institutions for research and development in cooperation.