Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation on Friday launched the National Cooperative Database portal in New Delhi, a repository of over 8 lakh cooperative societies, facilitating efficient communication and informed decision-making within the cooperative sector.
He said that cooperative societies play a crucial role in the country’s development, and the Modi government is committed to further streamlining them. He also emphasized that the database’s launch will also be a big step in making cooperative societies more transparent, cooperative, and prosperous. The government’s effort is aligned with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of “Sahakar se Samriddhi”, aims to strengthen India’s cooperative sector by providing a comprehensive database, he said.
At the event, Shah also released the ‘National Cooperative Database 2023: A Report’. Over 1,400 participants from various government departments and cooperative bodies attended the event. The event also included a technical workshop to familiarize stakeholders with the database’s usage and potential benefits.
Shah mentioned that the work on the National Cooperative Database has been carried out in three phases. In the first phase, mapping of approximately 2.64 lakh societies in three sectors, namely Primary Agricultural Credit Societies, Dairy, and Fisheries, was completed. In the second phase, data from various National Federations, State Federations, State Cooperative Banks (StCB), District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCB), Urban Cooperative Banks (UCB), State Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (SCARDB), Primary Agricultural and Rural Development Banks (PCARDB), cooperative sugar mills, district unions, and multi-state cooperative societies (MSCS) were collected/mapped.
In the third phase, data mapping of all the remaining 8 lakh primary cooperative societies in other sectors was carried out. He mentioned that after this, it was revealed that there are more than 8 lakh registered societies in the country, with over 30 crore citizens connected to them. Shah stated that the database has the potential to connect PACS to Apex, villages to cities, mandis to the global market, and state databases to international databases.