In order to realize the vision of Sahakar-se-Samridhi, the Ministry of Cooperation is working in coordination with States and Union Territories to promote new co-operatives and to strengthen the cooperative movement in the country.
To set up new multi-purpose PACS or primary dairy, fisheries cooperatives, a plan has been approved by the Government covering every Panchayat/ village in the next five years, with the support of NABARD, NFDB, NCDC and other National level Federations. As reported by States/ UTs, the process for registering 9,961 new PACS/ Dairy/ Fishery cooperative societies in 24 States/ UTs is in various stages.
In addition to this, the Ministry of Cooperation has taken various initiatives to promote co-operatives and bring about economic and social development in the country. Further, NCDC is promoting new co-operatives through its Yuva Sahakar Initiative. Under this scheme, NCDC provides financial support at concessional rate of interest to the new co-operatives enterprises. NCDC provides financial assistance to cooperative societies, which also benefits the poor and the middle-class people, Shah said.
Shah listed initiatives taken by the Ministry of Cooperation since its inception on 6th July, 2021 to realize the vision of “Sahakar-se-Samriddhi” and to strengthen & deepen the cooperative movement from Primary to Apex level Cooperatives in the country.
The list includes Making Primary Cooperatives transparent and economically vibrant, Strengthening of PACS through Computerization, New Multipurpose PACS/ Dairy/ Fishery Cooperatives in uncovered Panchayats, World’s Largest Decentralized Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative sector, Formation of new Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) by PACS, PACS given permission to convert bulk consumer petrol pumps into retail outlets and PACS eligible for LPG Distributorship for diversifying their activities.
Other initiatives include Micro-ATMs to Bank Mitra Cooperative Societies for providing doorsteps financial services, Rupay Kisan Credit Card to Members of Milk Cooperatives, Formation of Fish Farmer Producer Organization (FFPO), Strengthening Urban and Rural Cooperative Banks.
Shah also said that individual housing loan limit more than doubled by RBI for Rural and Urban Co-operative Banks, Rural Co-operative Banks will now be able to lend to commercial real estate/ residential housing sector, Relief to Cooperative Societies in the Income Tax Act, Tax cut for new manufacturing Cooperative societies, Increase in limit of Cash Deposits and Cash Loans by PACS and PCARDBs, Revival of Cooperative Sugar Mills, Three new Multi-State Societies at the National Level, Establishment of the Cooperative University.
Promotion of training and awareness through National Council for Cooperative Training (NCCT): By increasing its reach, NCCT has conducted 3,287 training programs and provided training to 2,01,507 participants in the FY 2022-23.
The exhaustive list could be read by clicking the following link
https://www.pib.gov.in/Pressreleaseshare.aspx?PRID=1985496
