40 new schemes will revolutionize the cooperative sector in Himachal
The Department of Cooperation has commissioned various new initiatives for Primary Agriculture Credit Societies (PACS) of the state. About 40 new schemes in the cooperative sector have been initiated in collaboration with the Ministry of Cooperation, Government of India, which aims to revolutionize the cooperative sector of the state, stated Secretary (Cooperation) C. Palrasu here today.
He said that these schemes aim to amend the overall structure of cooperative society’s rights from its bylaws to business diversification. The major initiatives include primary agricultural credit societies such as Jan Aushadhi Kendras, wherein generic medicines will be made available to the rural population at cheap rates. Almost 50 PACS have applied to get Jan Aushadhi Kendra in the state. In PACS as a common service center scheme, the cooperative societies will function as Lok Mitra Kendra, which will help the rural population in getting various kinds of certificates timely and cheaply at their doorstep. Various services such as tele-law and telemedicine are also available through PACS as CSC. More than 80 societies are now functioning as common service centers in the state.
Recently LPG and petrol pump retail licenses have also been opened for PACS. One society from Palampur has also applied in this scheme and many more are expected to file applications within the next 10 days, he said. Model bylaws have also been adopted by the majority of societies in the state. The department is also working to computerize the day-to-day affairs of PACS and within the next 2 months supply of hardware will be started and all identified societies will be provided with online software to carry out their day-to-day business. Under the grain storage program one society from district Una has been identified and the transfer of land is under process, he added.
He said that about 1300 societies were working as Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samridhi Kendra in the state. In addition to this meetings of the District Cooperative Development Committee have taken place in all districts of the state wherein several departments come together to sort out various issues pertaining to the cooperative sector.
C. Palrasu has appealed to all primary societies of the state to come forward to get membership of the National Cooperative Export Ltd, National Cooperative Organic Ltd., and Bharati Beej Sahkari Samiti to get maximum benefits from these national-level cooperatives and participate actively in all the schemes of the department.
