Oct. 16 in Ganderbal: The Deputy Commissioner (DC) Ganderbal presided over a meeting of the District Level Cooperative Development Committee (DCDC) today at the VC Room in order to make primary agriculture credit societies (PACS) economically vibrant entities by diversifying their business activities at the grassroots level.
An extensive discussion on a number of agenda items, including the adoption of model byelaws by PACS, the purchase of hardware, the goals for creating new multipurpose PACS, the creation of FPOs by PACS, the identification of PACS for convergence with the PM-KUSUM scheme, the creation of Jan Aushadhi Kendras by PACS, and other initiatives, was held at the outset.
The relevance of the cooperative movement and how it helps society as a whole with its economic empowerment and income production were underlined by the DC when debating the agenda items.
The meeting was attended by Deputy Registrar Cooperative Ganderbal, who also discussed efforts being made to enhance the cooperative movement district-wide and gave a summary of the current state of cooperative societies in the district.
The Ministry of Cooperation, the Ministry of Electronics and IT, NABARD, and CSC e-governance service India Ltd. have signed a Memorandum of Understanding allowing PACS to carry out CSC services, the committee was told. As part of this programme, the PACS will provide more than 300 e-services, including banking, insurance, health services, and bus, train, and other travel tickets, in remote regions.
The DC ordered the Deputy Registrar Cooperative Ganderbal to support PACS in carrying out diversified activities like opening up Jan Aushadhi Kendra, LPG/Petrol/Diesel distribution outlets, and CSCs in order to further diversify the business activities of PACS and make them vibrant economic entities. He also stressed the need for all registered PACS to adopt model bylaws on time in order to turn them into resources for revenue creation.
The DC further ordered the identification of PACS for convergence with the PM-KUSUM scheme for the promotion of green energy so that farmers affiliated with PACS can replace agricultural diesel pumps with solar agricultural water pumps and ensure their energy security by installing photovoltaic modules on the periphery of their land.
