Latest News | Centre Gets Proposals from States for Computerisation of 54,752 PACS

New Delhi, Mar 15 (PTI) The Centre has received proposals from States/UTs for the computerisation of 54,752 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), the government said on Wednesday.

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In a written reply to Rajya Sabha, Cooperation Minister Amit Shah said that the Union government is implementing a centrally sponsored project for the computerization of 63,000 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS)/Large Area Multi-Purpose Societies (LAMPS)/Farmers Service Societies (FSS) across the country with a total financial outlay of Rs 2,516 crore, approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 29th June 2022.

"At present, proposal for computerization of 54,752 PACS/LAMPS/FSS has been received from the States/UTs and central share amounting to Rs 201.18 crore has been released for the procurement of hardware, digitization of legacy data and establishing support system," Shah said.

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The Project Monitoring Units (PMUs) have been set up at central and state levels by NABARD. The development of software has been started by the National Level Project Software Vendor (NLPSV) selected by NABARD.

"The project entails bringing all the functional PACS onto on ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) based common software, linking them with NABARD through State Cooperative Banks (StCBs) and District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs), that will also help in maintaining check and balance on repayment of the loan disbursed," Shah said.

The ministry in consultation with States/UTs & other stakeholders concerned has prepared Model Bye-laws for PACS to diversify their activities to become Multipurpose Cooperative Societies.

The model bye-laws were circulated to all the States/UTs on January 5, 2023, for their adoption by PACS subject to their respective State Cooperative Societies Acts.

"The Model Bye-laws would enable PACS to carry out more than 25 business activities such as dairy, fisheries, food grain storage, LPG/CNG/Petrol/Diesel distributorship, common service centres, Fair Price Shops (FPS), community irrigation, Business Correspondent activities, etc," Shah said.

The common national software would support all the activities mentioned in the model bye-laws including the provision of inputs like fertiliser, seeds, etc. by PACS, the minister said.

Asked whether the ministry has taken steps to implement waiving of agricultural loans, Shah said, "However, waiving of agricultural loans does not come under the purview of the Ministry of Cooperation."

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)