Shah to inaugurate 10K new PACS, dairy, and fisheries cooperative societies

Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah will inaugurate 10,000 newly formed multipurpose Primary Agriculture Credit Societies (PACS), dairy, and fisheries cooperative societies on Wednesday.

This move comes almost nine months after Shah launched the National Cooperative Database in the National Capital in March, aimed at capturing vital information about India's vast cooperative sector. The Minister had then stated that the launch of the database--an important initiative by the Ministry of Cooperation to fulfil Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of "Sahakar se Samriddhi"--would "speed up the cooperative sector." Under the initiative, the Ministry of Cooperation recognized the imperative need for a robust database to capture critical information about India's cooperative sector.

The launch of the National Cooperative Database (NCD) was a milestone in the cooperative sector. The growth of cooperatives in rural areas holds the promise of addressing economic, social, and community challenges, empowering individuals, alleviating poverty, and contributing to the overall well-being of rural communities.

The data of cooperatives was collected for the National Cooperative Database in a phased manner from various stakeholders. In the first phase, mapping of about 2.64 lakh primary cooperative societies in three sectors--Primary Agriculture Credit Societies (PACS), Dairy, and Fisheries--was completed.

In the second phase, data from various National Federations, State Federations, State Cooperative Banks (StCB), District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs), Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs), State Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (SCARDB), Primary Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (PCARDB), Sugar Cooperative Mills, District Unions, and Multi-State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) were collected and mapped.

In the third phase, data from more than 5.3 lakh primary cooperative societies was mapped from all the remaining sectors through the offices of state and UT RCS and DRCS offices.

The National Cooperative Database is a web-based digital dashboard that captures data of cooperative societies, including national and state federations. The data of cooperative societies has been entered and validated by state and UT nodal officials at RCS and DRCS offices, while the data of federations has been provided by various national and state federations.

The National Database has collected and mapped information on about eight lakh cooperatives with a collective membership of more than 29 crore people across various sectors in the country. The information collected from cooperative societies includes various parameters such as their registered name, date, location, number of members, sectoral information, area of operation, economic activities, financial statements, and audit status.

The National Cooperative Database serves as a crucial tool for efficient communication between the central ministry, states, UTs, and cooperative societies, benefiting all stakeholders in the cooperative sector. The database provides comprehensive contact details for registered societies, facilitating smooth communication between government entities and these societies.

The National Cooperative Database offers a range of benefits that contribute to the efficiency and effectiveness of the cooperative sector, including single-point access, comprehensive and updated data, a user-friendly interface, vertical and horizontal linkages, query-based reports and graphs, Management Information System (MIS) reports data analytics and geographical mapping.

The success of this initiative relies on effective collaboration, accurate data collection, and strategic utilization of the database to identify sectoral gaps and make informed decisions for filling those gaps. Overall, the database promotes transparency and collaboration within the cooperative sector.