Ever since he took over the charge of the Cooperation ministry, Amit Shah and his team have been working hard to make PACS the focal point of rural revolution. The latest in the series is signing of MoUs with a host of organizations including CSC.
With this initiative PACS will be able to provide all the services listed on the Digital Seva Portal of CSC scheme to citizens, including banking, insurance, Aadhaar enrolment/update, legal services, agri-inputs like farm equipment, PAN card, IRCTC, Rail, Bus, and Air ticket related services, etc. “It would be a new experience for village folks”, say rural experts.
In a historic move an MoU was signed on Thursday to enable PACS in providing services offered by Common Service Centers, in the presence of Union Minister of Cooperation, Amit Shah and Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnalav.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Ministry of Cooperation, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, NABARD and CSC e-Governance Services India Limited in New Delhi.
In his address, PIB quotes, Shah said that PACS are the soul of cooperatives and making them multipurpose as providers of about 20 services will increase employment opportunities in rural areas. He said that the role and contribution of PACS in rural and agricultural development is very important.
Describing this agreement as a win-win situation for all, he said that this will not only help in fulfilling Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s dream of ‘Sahkar Se Samridhi’ and making cooperatives the backbone of rural development, but also will strengthen both cooperatives and farmers. Shah said that this will help in advancing the concept of Common Service Centres (CSC) to the smallest unit of the country very easily.
Amit Shah said that about 50 percent of the country’s population is associated with cooperatives in one way or the other and keeping in view the development of such a large sector, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi had taken a historic decision to create a separate Ministry of Cooperation.
Shah added that PACS will now be able to undertake 20 different activities including water distribution, storage, Bank Mitra. He said that the first and foremost task is to make the services provided by the Common Service Centres available to the rural population through PACS.
The Minister said that as per the agreement signed today, PACS will now be able to function as Common Service Centres, along with this, more than 300 services will be made available to the rural population including 13 crore farmer members of PACS. It will increase the business activities of PACS and help them become self-sustaining economic entities.
Shah said that the national software being developed under the ongoing Centrally-Sponsored Scheme of PACS computerization will also be used for PACS to function as CSCs, which will be a big achievement.
The Minister of State for Cooperation BL Verma, Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, senior officials of Ministry of Cooperation, NABARD and NCDC were present on this occasion.