According to the MoU, which was signed in the presence of Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah in national capital, PACS will now be able to function as Common Service Centres, and more than 300 services, including 13 crore farmer members of PACS, will be made available to the rural population.
Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnalav, Minister of State for Cooperation BL Verma, Secretary, Ministries of Cooperation and Electronics and Information Technology, and senior officials from the Ministries of Cooperation, NABARD, and NCDC were also present. In his address, the Union Home and Cooperation Minister said the move will "increase the business activities of PACS and help them to become self-sustaining economic entities".
"With this initiative, PACS will be able to provide citizens with all of the services listed on the CSC scheme's Digital Seva Portal, including banking, insurance, Aadhaar enrolment/update, legal services, agri-inputs such as farm equipment, PAN card, IRCTC, Rail, Bus, and Air ticket related services," he said.
The national software being developed under the ongoing Centrally-Sponsored Scheme of PACS computerization, according to Shah, will also be used for PACS to function as CSCs, which will be a significant achievement. Amit Shah also emphasised the role and contribution of PACS in rural and agricultural development, stating that making them multipurpose as providers of approximately 20 services will increase rural employment opportunities.
This agreement, described by Shah as a win-win situation for all, will not only help Prime Minister Modi's dream of 'Sahkar Se Samridhi' and making cooperatives the backbone of rural development, but will also strengthen cooperatives and farmers.
Shah stated that this would make it much easier to spread the concept of Common Service Centres (CSC) to the smallest unit of the country. According to the Minister, approximately 50% of the country's population is involved with cooperatives in some way, and in order to facilitate the development of such a large sector, Prime Minister Modi made the historic decision to establish a separate Ministry of Cooperation. He stated that the most difficult problem confronting the cooperative sector was making PACS viable, and that today a new beginning has been made by adding many new dimensions to the functioning of PACS.
PACS will now be able to carry out 20 different activities, including water distribution, storage, and Bank Mitra, according to Shah. The first and most important task, he stated, is to make the services provided by the Common Service Centres available to the rural population via PACS. The Minister stated that many important announcements for the cooperative sector have been made in this year's budget under Prime Minister Modi's leadership.
In this year's budget, it is proposed to build two lakh PACS over the next five years, with a multi-purpose PACS in each Panchayat. Aside from that, he said, the budget for the cooperative sector has laid the groundwork for the world's largest grain storage scheme. According to Shah, the creation of a national database for the cooperative sector is 70% complete. "Aside from that, model bye-laws have been prepared and distributed to all states following discussions with all stakeholders," he added.
