In a written reply, Union Minister of Cooperation, Amit Shah listed several initiatives undertaken by the NCDC under its Sahakar 22 initiative. He recalled that NCDC had launched Sahakar– 22 in FY 2017-18 to achieve the Mission of New India through Cooperatives.
Under this, NCDC launched FOCUS 222 aimed at assisting Cooperatives in 222 Districts including 117 Aspirational Districts identified by NITI Aayog, said Shah.
Shah further said that NCDC’s Sahakar 22 includes programme like PACS HUB – Transformation of PACS and other Coops as Apna Kisan Resource Centers? AENEC – Act East and North East Cooperatives? CEMtC – Centres of Excellence to Market through Cooperatives and SAHAKAR PRAGYA – Capacity Development through Laxmanrao Inamdar National Academy for Cooperative Research Development (LINAC).
On NCDC’s initiatives on PACS, the Minister said being an Implementing Agency under the Central Sector Scheme titled “Formation and Promotion of 10,000 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs)”, has registered 610 new FPOs as on 30.06.2023. A target of additional 1,100 new FPOs have been allocated to NCDC by the Government, for strengthening the cooperative sector. Now, NCDC has become able to extend the benefit of the scheme by enabling Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS) to form new FPOs.
NCDC is also supporting and handholding the FPOs, for registration and legal compliance processes, through Cluster Based Business Organizations (CBBOs).
Under the FPO scheme, Cluster Based Business Organizations have been engaged by NCDC for providing access to market linkages, value addition, branding and marketing of the produce. NCDC monitors overall implementation of the scheme through its 18 Regional Offices across the country, Shah said.
The Government of India monitors the financial disbursements under NCDC schemes like Sahakar- 22 through approval of annual Programme of Activities, monthly review of the financial achievements, control through Board of Management and General Council, auditing Annual Accounts by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) and laying Annual Accounts and Annual Report before the Parliament of India. This ensures effectiveness in implementation of NCDC schemes like Sahakar- 22, he informed.
The Ministry of Cooperation with active participation of various States/ UTs has taken various initiatives to revitalize and strengthen the cooperative sector across the country and to achieve the vision of “Sahakar se Samriddhi”, he said.