IndianBureaucracy, New Delhi – Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah, will launch the computerisation Project for Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (ARDBs) and the Registrar of Cooperative Societies (RCSs) of all States and Union Territories on January 30, 2024, in New Delhi. The initiative, organised by the Ministry of Cooperation in collaboration with the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), is aimed at modernising and enhancing the efficiency of the cooperative sector by bringing the entire ecosystem onto a digital platform.
The project focuses on computerising 1851 units of ARDBs in 13 States/UTs and linking them with NABARD through a Common National Software. This initiative aims to increase operational efficiency, accountability, and transparency in ARDBs by standardising business procedures through the Common Accounting System (CAS) and Management Information System (MIS). Additionally, it targets the reduction of transaction costs, facilitation of loan distribution to farmers, and real-time data access for better monitoring and assessment of schemes.
In a parallel initiative, the Ministry aims to computerise the offices of the Registrar of Cooperative Societies (RCS) in all States and Union Territories, promoting paperless functioning and implementing an IT-oriented workflow in line with Cooperative Acts and Regulations. This move aims to improve efficiency, accountability, and transparency in RCS offices, incorporating analytics and MIS, and ensuring linkage with the national database.
As part of these major initiatives, Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACSs) across the country are being computerised and linked to NABARD through a Common National Software. More than 50,000 PACSs have already been onboarded as Common Service Centers (CSCs), offering digital services to over 30,000 PACSs. The Ministry has also established a new National Cooperative Database containing data from over 8 lakh cooperative societies, set to be launched soon and made available to all stakeholders.
Over 1200 participants, including senior officials from all states and union territories, secretaries of cooperative departments, Registrars of Cooperative Societies, Presidents of State Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (SCARDBs), and representatives of Primary Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (PCARDBs) and ARDB units, are expected to attend the event.
