New Delhi: The Ministry of Cooperation is trying to take the number of Primary Agricultural Credit Societies to three lakh, Minister for Home and Cooperation Amit Shah said on Thursday.
Shah was addressing a two-day National Conference of State Cooperation Ministers in New Delhi.
The Minister said Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to bring a positive change in the lives of crores of poor by making the cooperative sector a strong pillar of the economy.
“Ministry of Cooperation is trying to take the number of PACS to three lakhs in five years,” the minister said.
According to data from the Reserve Bank of India, there were 99,635 PACS in India in 2019.
He also said the government is formulating a policy idea that along with short-term finance PACS should also be involved in medium and long-term financing.
He said the development of any sector is not possible without a database, and the Ministry of Cooperation is creating a national database of the cooperative sector.
“In the next two months, the government will form a multi-state cooperative of seed culture and marketing and certification of organic products, which will directly benefit farmers involved in organic farming,” he said.
Shah said the Government of India will be setting up a multistate export house that will export khadi products, handicrafts, and agriculture products to the world market.
“Several new dimensions are to be added to PACS through model bylaws which will bring transparency, accountability, and dynamism in cooperatives,” he said.
The Minister also called upon all states to work together in the spirit of ‘Team India’, to strengthen the cooperative sector.
“Cooperatives should make a large contribution to the aim of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in making the country’s economy a US $ 5 trillion economy and in the next 100 years, the cooperative sector must definitely be a part of the Indian economy,” he said.
“Equal development of the cooperative sector will be ensured by considering every State equally in the new Cooperative Policy,” he added.
The focus of the co-operative policy of the government is free registration, computerization, democratic elections, active membership, professionalism in governance and leadership, professionalism, transparency, responsibility, and accountability, he added.
Ministry of Cooperation was created in July 2021, by transferring the existing entries related to cooperation and cooperative in the business of the erstwhile Ministry of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare.
