In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha Minister of Cooperation, Amit Shah said that a proposal for computerization of 5,491 PACS in the State of Karnataka has been recommended by NABARD and an amount of Rs. 25.45 crore has been released as 1st instalment.
Shah said as per information received from the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Karnataka, there are about 45,926 cooperative societies in various sectors in the State of Karnataka including 6,040 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS).
“A Centrally sponsored project for Computerization of functional PACS/ LAMPS across the country, including the State of Karnataka, with a total financial outlay of Rs. 2,516 Crore is under implementation. Project Monitoring Units (PMUs) have been set up at Central and State Levels and development of software has also been started by NABARD. As per the Guidelines of the Project, the target for completion of computerization of 63,000 PACS is 31.3.2025 and that for handholding support is 31.3.2027”, informed Shah.
The Ministry of Cooperation in consultation with States/UTs & other stakeholders concerned, has prepared Model Bye-laws for PACS to diversify their activities to transform them into Multipurpose Cooperative Societies, said the Minister.
Model byelaws have been circulated to all the States/UTs, including the State of Karnataka, on 05.01.2023 for their adoption by PACS subject to their respective State Cooperative Societies Acts. The Model Bye-laws would enable PACS to carry out more than 25 business activities such as dairy, fisheries, food grain storage, LPG/CNG/Petrol/Diesel distributorship, common service centers, Fair Price Shops (FPS), etc, he added.
Shah also said that in addition to the above, a proposal has been approved by the Government to set up two lakh new multi-purpose PACS or primary dairy or fishery cooperative societies across the country, including the State of Karnataka, covering every Panchayat/Village in the next five years by taking advantage of various existing schemes.