Co-operation Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday exuded confidence of creating the targetted 2 lakh Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS) before the five-year timeline after announcing the launch of 10,000 new such societies at the grassroot level.

Addressing an event to mark the occasion, Shah said: “We have kept a target of setting up 2 lakh PACS in five years. I want to tell you that we will establish them before five years. In three months, we have been able to establish over 10,000 new PACS.” Prosperity through co-operation cannot be achieved unless co-operatives function effectively at the panchayat level, he said adding within just 86 days after the SOP was unveiled (on September 19), registration of 10,000 PACS was successfully completed.

The Minister highlighted that so far, 11,695 PACS have been registered under the new model laws (based on a draft bylaw shared by the Centre), which allows these co-operative societies to navigate into many other territories beyond their core strength area. He said: “once the target of 2 lakh PACS is achieved, it will greatly facilitate the seamless integration of farmers’ produce into global markets through robust forward and backward linkages.”

Further, he stressed that the adoption of new model by-laws will ensure the active participation of women, Dalits, backward communities and tribals, fostering social and economic equality and enhancing social harmony.

Phased approach

He said that the initiative will be rolled out in two phases, with Nabard (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) establishing 32,750 new M-PACS, while NDDB (National Dairy Development Board) will set up 56,500 dairy co-operatives and NFDB (National Fisheries Development Board) 6,000 fishery co-operatives in the first phase.

In the second phase, Nabard will create 45,000 M-PACS, NDDB will establish 46,000 dairy co-operatives and NFDB 5,500 fishery co-operatives. State governments will also form about 25,000 new co-operatives.

Liquidating PACS

Shah also released standard operating procedures (SOP) for the liquidation of defunct PACS, which will enable the setting up of new societies in 15,000 villages. Under the current norms, a second PACS cannot be established in the same jurisdiction where one already exists, unless it is declared defunct. The liquidation is a cumbersome procedure as a result, no one tries to do that and the Centre’s SOP is set to help State governments ease the procedures.

Shah distributed registration certificates, micro ATMs and RuPay Kisan Credit Cards to the newly established co-operative societies and highlighted the importance of digitalisation in the sector. The government has already computerised existing PACS and integrated them with 32 different initiatives, he said.

At the same time, the minister also said that technology alone is not enough and urged the societies to utilise the new training module. “We have computerised PACS, given them software and have started different schemes. But, co-operatives cannot operate, if there is no trained manpower,” he noted.

He emphasised that district co-operative registrars must take responsibility for implementing the training programme effectively, ensuring the secretaries and executive members of PACS receive quality training.

The Minister also recalled the contribution made to the co-operative sector by Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the country observes the former Prime Minister’s 100th birth anniversary on Wednesday. The 97th Amendment to the Constitution was brought during Vajpayee’s tenure to give a push to the co-operative sector, he said.