Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah has said that the government will bring model by-laws to govern all Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS) in the country. He said, the sick and defunct PACS should be revived or taken for liquidation. Mr Shah was addressing a national conference on rural cooperative banks organised by the Ministry of Cooperation and the National Federation of State Cooperative Banks (NAFSCOB) at Vignan Bhavan in New Delhi yesterday.
Describing the PACS as pillars of the cooperative movement, Mr Shah called for strengthening of the PACS by diversifying them into various other activities. He said, the PACS will not be viable with agriculture lending alone, they should diversify their business. Mr Shah stressed the need to establish more than 2 lakh new PACS across the country to achieve the target of providing agri-finance worth 10 lakh crore rupees through cooperatives.
He asked senior officials of State Cooperative Banks (SCBs) and District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) to set a five-year goal in this regard. Mr Shah also said that the rural cooperative banks have played a significant role in connecting rural India with the country’s economy. He said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tenure is a golden opportunity for the cooperatives in the country with the constitution of a separate Ministry.
