Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah inaugurated a National Mega Conclave on the launching of Common Services Centre (CSC) services by Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) in New Delhi today. On this occasion, Union Minister for Communications, Electronics & Information Technology and Railways Shri Ashwini Vaishnav, Union Minister of State for Cooperation, Shri B L Verma, Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation, Shri Gyanesh Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Shri Alkesh Kumar Sharma and Managing Director of CSC-SPV Shri Sanjay Rakesh were present along with other dignitaries.

In his address, the Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that with the integration of PACS and CSC, two resolutions of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to strengthen cooperatives and promote Digital India are being fulfilled today. The resolutions taken by the Prime Minister Modi to eliminate corruption from governance through CSC under the Digital India Mission and taking facilities to the doorsteps of the poor people and to strengthen the rural economy by strengthening the entire cooperative system from PACS to Apex by forming the Ministry of Cooperation have integrated today.

Shri Amit Shah said that Prime Minister Modi has guided the Ministry of Cooperation with a great vision. He said that if the cooperative movement has to be strengthened, then its smallest unit PACS has to be strengthened. Shri Shah said that until the PACS are not strong, the cooperative movement cannot be strengthened. Therefore, the government has decided to computerize the PACS to make them transparent, to ensure their accountability and also to modernize them so that the digitized schemes of the government can be integrated with the PACS. Shri Shah said that within 20 days of the formation of the Ministry of Cooperation, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi provided Rs. 2,500 crore for the computerization of PACS, due to which 65,000 PACS are being computerized.

Union Minister of Cooperation said that there can be no bigger means than CSC to implement the formula of 'Minimum Government, Maximum Governance with last mile delivery but without Corruption'. He informed that more than 300 small beneficiary schemes of Government of India and State Governments have been integrated with CSC. He said that there can be no better means than PACS to deliver CSC services to the poorest of the poor in the villages, landless agricultural laborers and Dalit and Tribal communities. Today PACS and CSC are getting united, this will not only increase the facilities of the poor, but also the rural economy will get new energy and strength. Along with this, we will also be able to utilise the maximum potential for the development of the country.

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said 17,176 PACS have been registered in CSC till now. He added that coming on-board of more than 17,000 PACS in a short span of two months is a huge achievement. Shri Shah congratulated the Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation and the entire team of the Ministry for this significant achievement. He said that out of 17,176 PACS, about 6,670 have started functioning and the remaining PACS would also start functioning in next 15 days. This will provide employment to about 14,000 rural youth and these youth will also work to strengthen the rural economy and facilities in the villages. He said that 60-65% of our country's population lives in villages and hence we have to try to accelerate and diversify the rural economy with the mantra of “Sahkar Se Samridhi”.

Shri Amit Shah said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, during last 9 years, the Government of India has provided ration, housing, electricity, water, cooking gas, toilets and health facilities up to five lakh rupees to 60 crore people without any cost. Now more than 17,000 PACS will also become the medium for providing registration for all these facilities and taking the problems of the rural people to the government. He said that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has not only provided Jan-Dhan account, Aadhaar card and mobile, but also done a huge task of laying optical fiber network in villages and gram panchayats under the Digital India mission.

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that in the last 9 years, the number of Internet users in the country has increased by 250 percent and the cost of per GB data has come down by 96 percent, which is enabling the poor and underprivileged people to use this facility. He said that by computerizing PACS, the government has made PACS multipurpose and also empowered them to function as FPOs (Farmer Producer Organization). Along with this, three Multi-State Cooperative Societies have been formed for seed production, marketing of organic farming and export of farmers' produce. The world's largest food grain storage scheme has also started. Shri Shah said that in the next 5 years, small PACS will provide storage to 30% of the country's food grains.

Shri Amit Shah said that now PACS can start distribution work of LPG, Diesel and Petrol. They can also open Fair Price Shop, Jan Aushadhi Kendra, Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samridhi Kendra and Fertilizer shop. He said that through these works, PACS will become the soul of economic activities of the village. Shri Shah said that if the PACS becomes prosperous then the farmer will be prosperous because its profit is directly deposited in the account of the farmer. He said that the government has made several legal and administrative reforms in the field of cooperatives and has promoted economic activities in a multidimensional manner. Shri Shah said that, Modi government's cooperative schemes and continuous reforms reach the grassroots level, then no one can stop the cooperative movement from getting strengthen. Shri Shah appealed to the people to take a pledge to strengthen PACS and take it forward by adopting the mantra of 'Prosperity of village through strengthening of PACS'.

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the Ministry of Cooperation has recently taken a new initiative and started the refund process of depositors money stuck in the cooperative societies of Sahara Group. He said that the Ministry of Cooperation had filed a petition in the Supreme Court. On this application the Supreme Court directed that Rs. 5000 crore be transferred to the Central Registrar of Cooperative  Societies (CRCS) from the "Sahara-SEBI Refund Account" for payment of legitimate dues to the genuine depositors of the cooperatives of the Sahara group. He said that following this direction, the ‘CRCS-Sahara Refund’ Portal was launched on July 18, 2023. Shri Amit Shah informed that till now 5 lakh people have registered in the portal and the process of refunding the money to the genuine depositors has started. He said that this is a great example of the fact that if a government works in a proactive manner, even the most complex problems can be solved.

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