<h1>Government removes artificial barriers to cooperative registrations, lowers fees to boost agricultural, dairy, fishery and labor cooperatives</h1> The state government announced it will lift prior restrictions on forming new cooperative societies, including milk and labour cooperatives, and will formulate a state cooperative policy to strengthen and expand the sector. It said previous instructions-barring registration where a society already exists, rigidly defining operational areas, and imposing minimum-distance rules-were contrary to the cooperative law and discouraged voluntary participation. New registrations will proceed strictly under the Punjab Cooperative Societies Act without artificial barriers. The government also plans reduced registration fees for primary agricultural, dairy, and fishery cooperatives to promote inclusion and benefit small farmers, workers and weaker sections.