What happened
The Regional Institute of Cooperative Management, Chandigarh, under the National Council for Cooperative Training, has launched “Meri Samiti – Mera Patal” to digitalise governance and data for Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS).
The Union government has stated that the initiative is meant to improve training support, governance, visibility, and decision-making through digital profiling and a centralised real-time data system.
Background and earlier position
Primary Agricultural Credit Societies are the grassroots tier of India’s short-term cooperative credit structure and remain important for rural credit delivery and local cooperative participation. In practice, PACS governance has often been affected by weak data visibility, uneven record-keeping, and limited public access to society-level information.
What changed now
Related current affairs
- Digital technology push in cooperative sector under “Sahkar Se Samriddhi”
- Model Bye-laws for PACS: Adoption to expand business activities and improve governance/inclusiveness
- Model bye-laws for PACS circulated and adopted in Punjab; inclusivity for women and SC/ST membership
- Computerization of Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) in Punjab under Central Sponsored Project
- Initiatives since inception of Ministry of Cooperation: model bye-laws for PACS, White Revolution 2.0, tax relief and financial support (ethanol/EBS, GST on molasses, revival of sugar mills)
- MoU for CSC services via PACS and expansion of farmer-facing digital services through cooperatives