Press Information Bureau

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Minister Shri Amit Shah launched the digital portal of the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies (CRCS) office in Pune, Maharashtra today. Several dignitaries including Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Shri Eknath Shinde and Union Minister of State for Ministry of Cooperation, Shri B L Verma were present on the occasion.

In his address, Shri Amit Shah said that The culture of cooperatives spread across the country from Maharashtra only and Cooperative model of Maharashtra is taking the cooperative movement forward in the country. Shri Shah said that if we look at the direction of development of the cooperative movement today, then the cooperative movement has progressed and flourished only in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka, which is, the parts of the earlier Mumbai state. He said that it is absolutely relevant to start the work of complete digitization of the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies in Pune, Maharashtra. Shri Shah added that The work of the Central Registrar (CRCS) office, which operates the Multi State Cooperatives, is becoming completely digital today, all the work of cooperative societies like opening new branches, expansion to other states or auditing, will be done online now. This portal has been created including all the activities of Registration, amendment of bylaws, auditing, monitoring of auditing by the Central Registrar, the entire process of election, development of Human Resources, vigilance and training and it is a kind of complete portal in itself.

The Union Minister of Cooperation said that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has put forth the idea of “Sahkar Se Samriddhi” with immense thinking. He said that in the last 9 years, Prime Minister Modi has worked to provide basic facilities to crores of poor people of the country. He said that Shri Narendra Modi has provided houses, electricity, pure drinking water, gas cylinders, toilets, health insurance coverage up to Rs 5 lakh and 5 kg food grains per person per month free of cost to the poor and underprivileged. Shri Shah said that crores of poor people of the country were not linked with the country's economy, but Shri Modi connected them with it by fulfilling their basic needs and opening their bank accounts. He said that If the poor people of the country lack the capital to start an enterprise then the cooperative movement is the right way for this thru which many people with small capital can come together to set up a big enterprise.

Shri Amit Shah said that meaning of “Sahakar se Samridhi” is to improve the life of poor people, give him a platform to contribute to the economic progress of the country and raise his standard of living through cooperatives. He said that Shri Modi established the Ministry of Cooperation to achieve this objective. Shri Shah said that 1555 multi-state cooperative societies of the country will be benefited by the portal launched today and 42% of these 1555 societies are in Maharashtra only, this shows the strength of cooperative movement in Maharashtra. He said that all the work of these 1555 societies will now be done through this portal. He added that on same lines, Modi Government is going to computerize the offices of registrar of cooperative societies of the states which will ease the communication with 8 lakh cooperative societies across the country.

The Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that the cooperative movement cannot move forward without modernity, transparency and accountability. He said that to increase the acceptance of cooperative movement, transparency has to be increased and accountability has to be fixed. He said that only such a transparent system can create a connect between crores of people of the country. Shri Shah said that India has given many success stories of cooperatives like Amul, IFFCO and KRIBHCO to the world, now we have to give new momentum to the cooperative movement by taking these along.

Shri Amit Shah said that recently the Multistate Cooperative Societies Act has also been amended. He said that under this law, we have made electoral reforms, set many new dimensions for cooperative governance, arrangements for financial discipline and supply of funds, arrangements for ease of business, an independent body like Election Commission for elections, changes in the rules of running the board and has fixed the responsibility of the Board of Directors and employees to bring transparency. The Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2022 will fix the accountability of cooperatives and end nepotism so that young talent will be able to join the cooperative movement.

The Union Minister of Cooperation said that under the leadership and continuous guidance of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, it has been decided to make PACS viable. He said that the Modi government has decided to take the cooperative movement to every village by creating 3 lakh new PACS across the country in the next 5 years. He said that 93000 PACS have been made in the last 70 years and 3 lakh new PACS will be made in the country in the next 5 years. Shri Shah said that the Modi government has completed the work of computerization of all PACS in the country. He said that PACS are now Common Service Centers (CSC) which can perform a wide range of activities. He said that the Union Cabinet under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the world's largest and multidimensional storage scheme. Shri Shah said that Maharashtra should take maximum advantage of this scheme and there should not be a single Tehsil left without cooperative storage facility.  He said that now cooperatives are also getting the benefit of GEM platform.

Shri Amit Shah said that 95% work of creating the National Cooperative Database has been completed. We are also coming up with a New Cooperative Policy. We are building a cooperative university through which the system of technical education of the cooperative and all its extensions will also be linked to it. He said that Shri Modi has created 3 new multistate cooperative societies. A society has been formed for the marketing of multi-state organic products, which will ensure the marketing of natural farming products with the Bharat Brand and sending its full profit to the farmer's account. Similarly, small farmers are unable to produce seeds, but now even small farmers, who have small land, will be able to produce seeds. This society will take their seeds, give them certificates and sell them in India and in the world market under their own brand. He said that through these three multistate cooperative societies, the standard of living of more than 10 crore farmers across the country will improve and these societies will pave the way for the prosperity of crores of farmers in the country in the coming days.

The Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that earlier step-motherly treatment was given to cooperatives, but today, under the leadership of Shri Modi, this step-motherly treatment of cooperatives has ended. He said that today, the arrangements available to corporates are also available to all cooperatives. Shri Shah said that the double standard of income tax has also been abolished. Modi government has also solved the problem of sugar mills which was pending since last many years. He said that the concept of cooperative is that the government cannot tax the profit of the farmer. This principle has been accepted by the Ministry of Finance which is a very significant for the whole cooperative movement and this will be hugely beneficial for this sector in the coming days. Shri Shah said that earlier there was a limit on housing finance for urban cooperatives, it has also been doubled now. Rural cooperative banks have also been given permission to give loans for real estate. Urban Cooperative Banks did not have permission for doorstep banking that, too, has now been given. Urban Cooperative Banks can also open new branches now, One Time Settlement was restricted for Urban Cooperative Banks, for this also we have given rights to Urban Cooperative Banks by bringing them at par with nationalized banks.

Shri Amit Shah said that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has set a target of making 5 trillion dollar economy and making India the third largest economy in the world, we should set a target for the contribution of the cooperative sector in achieving this goal. He said that under the vision of “Sahkar se Samridhi” of Shri Modi, the Ministry of Cooperation has made a new beginning today by launching this digital portal.

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RK/AY/AKS