CURRENT AFFAIRS | 29 JUNE 2026
On 27 June 2026, Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah launched Bharat Taxi in Gujarat — billed as India’s first large-scale cooperative-sector ride-hailing platform. Built under the cooperative umbrella (through Sahkar Taxi Cooperative Limited, with support from institutions like Amul, IFFCO and NABARD) and rolled out across 14 cities, it runs on a zero-commission, driver-owned model: the bulk of every fare stays with the driver, who is a member-owner rather than a gig “partner” squeezed by a private aggregator. For CLAT 2027 aspirants, this is a perfect case study sitting at the crossroads of cooperative law, the gig economy, and a fairly recent constitutional amendment.
Why does a taxi app belong in a law blog? Because the word “cooperative” is constitutionally loaded. Cooperatives are not just feel-good village societies — they are protected and promoted by the Constitution itself, and a Union Ministry of Cooperation now exists to push them. Bharat Taxi is the policy made visible.
Constitutional Framework
The anchor is Article 43B: “The State shall endeavour to promote voluntary formation, autonomous functioning, democratic control and professional management of co-operative societies.” Article 43B is a Directive Principle, inserted by the landmark 97th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2011. The same amendment added Part IXB (Articles 243ZH to 243ZT) on co-operative societies and made the right “to form co-operative societies” an express facet of the fundamental right under Article 19(1)(c). Note one crucial nuance the exam loves: in Union of India v. Rajendra N. Shah (2021), the Supreme Court struck down the Part IXB provisions insofar as they applied to State co-operative societies, because co-operatives are a State subject (Entry 32, List II) and the amendment lacked State ratification; Part IXB survives for multi-State co-operatives.
The CLAT Angle
CLAT thrives on “which amendment did what” and “which Article protects which freedom”. Expect a direct GK hit on the 97th Amendment, Article 43B, or the year the Ministry of Cooperation was created (2021). In Legal Reasoning, the gig-economy layer is the live wire: a passage may supply a principle about whether platform drivers are “employees” entitled to social security, then test it against the Bharat Taxi model where drivers are member-owners rather than employees. The Code on Social Security, 2020 — which for the first time defines “gig worker” and “platform worker” and provides for their welfare — is the statute to remember. A smart aspirant also spots the federalism trap: co-operatives are largely a State subject, which is exactly why the 97th Amendment was partly struck down.
Key Facts
| Launched by | Union Home & Cooperation Minister Amit Shah, 27 June 2026 (Gujarat) |
| Model | Cooperative, driver-owned, zero-commission ride-hailing |
| Constitutional basis | Article 43B (DPSP); Part IXB; Article 19(1)(c) |
| Key amendment | 97th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2011 |
| Ministry of Cooperation | Established July 2021 (motto: “Sahkar se Samriddhi”) |
| Gig-worker law | Code on Social Security, 2020 |
The economics also tell a constitutional story. Conventional aggregators deduct a commission on every ride; the cooperative model returns that margin to the driver-member, reflecting the “democratic control and professional management” that Article 43B promotes. This is the State using a Directive Principle as a template for market design — promoting co-operatives as a “third way” between private capital and pure State enterprise. For an essay-style Legal Reasoning passage, that framing — co-operatives as a constitutionally favoured mode of organising the economy — is exactly the analysis examiners reward.
Keep the Rajendra N. Shah point handy, because it ties three ideas together: the 97th Amendment, the federal division of powers (co-operatives in the State List), and the requirement of State ratification for amendments touching the federal structure. That single case can power a five-mark cluster.
Memory Hook
“97 to drive co-op, 43B to keep the hope, Part 9-B is the rope.” The 97th Amendment (2011) created the cooperative framework, Article 43B promotes co-operatives (DPSP), and Part IXB is the operational chapter. For the freedom: “19(1)(c) — form a SOCIETY (and a co-operative society too).”
For CLAT 2027, Bharat Taxi is a one-headline gateway to the cooperative chapter of the Constitution, the gig-worker debate under the 2020 Social Security Code, and a sharp federalism case. Lock those links and a ride-hailing story becomes an easy scoring zone.
Practice Quiz — 10 CLAT-Style Questions
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