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Prime Minister's dream of Atmanirbhar Bharat can be achieved only through Atmanirbhar village. And to make Atmanirbhar village, passed out students of the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) have a major role to play, said Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah here on Sunday.

Participating in the 41th convocation at the IRMA campus on Sunday, Shah said, "I would like to say that IRMA must contribute more towards strengthening and development of the cooperative sector. The cooperative sector is inclusive. To make it more inclusive, transparent, modern, and technology-enabled and through this medium of cooperatives, people, sectors and villages can be made Atmanirbhar. This can be achieved when institutions like IRMA increase their contribution towards cooperatives."

He further said, "What a farmer cultivates needs to be marketed well. Cooperative model is the way forward for marketing these products. The entire cooperative sector got impetus as a Ministry of Cooperation was formed under PM Narendra Modi's leadership."

Shah is of the opinion that without rural development, India's development is not possible. Today, 70 per cent of Indians live in rural areas. If our villages become active contributors to development and progress, India can become a $5 trillion economy over the next five years. Therefore, our responsibility is to focus on rural development."

At the convocation, 251 students were awarded degrees in Post Graduate Diploma (PGDM) in Rural Management.