It will set up 45 new modules of Sahakar Pragya to impart training to primary cooperative societies in association with LINAC:
Narendra Singh Tomar indicates that Sahakar Cooptube strengthens the initiative of the government to promote 10,000 FPOs
Sahakar Pragya is the latest in a series of farmer focused initiatives by the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC). With its 45 training modules, it will address the training needs of primary cooperatives, Farmer Producer Organizations (FPO) cooperatives, and self-help groups. Unveiling the initiative, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Rural Development, Panchayat Raj and Food Processing Industries Narendra Singh Tomar says the 45 training modules of Sahakar Pragya will impart training to primary cooperative societies in rural areas of the country along with Lakshmanrao Inamdar National Cooperative Research and Development Academy (LINAC). Sahakar Pragya embodies enhancing NCDC’s training capacity by 18-fold through an elaborate network of 18 regional training centres across the country by the dedicated LINAC, set up and fully funded by NCDC, he adds.
The training programs will be supported under existing NCDC schemes. There will be 10,000 FPO formation schemes, Agri Infra Fund scheme, PM-FME scheme of the Ministry of Food Processing Industry, Dairy Infra Dev Fund, Fisheries Infra Dev Fund, PM Matsya-Sampada Yojana, state/UT schemes as well as schemes of other organizations’ schemes.”
NCDC has been created for the purpose of planning and promoting programs for the production, processing, marketing, storage, export and import of agricultural produce, foodstuffs, industrial goods, livestock, certain other commodities and services like hospital and healthcare and education, etc, on cooperative principles. Tomar says NCDC has emerged as a financial powerhouse giving the client cooperatives a wide range of products and services. It extends financial assistance to cooperatives at all the 3 tiers – primary, district and apex / multi-state. So far it has advanced loans to the tune of Rs1.58 trillion to cooperative societies of various categories across the country.
SELF-RELIANCE FOR COOPS
Tomar has called upon the cooperative sector to play a role in making the villages/poor/farmers Atma Nirbhar. Says he: “Today India boasts of a huge network of 850,000 cooperative societies with about 290 million members and around 94% of the farmers in India are member of at least one cooperative society. These cooperatives have a major role in creating Atma Nirbhar Bharat and it lends strength to farmers to minimize risks in agriculture and allied sectors and act as shield against exploitation by unscrupulous traders.”
India has more than 250,000-gram panchayats, through which the government is working to ensure that every household has access to basic amenities like toilets, electricity, water, cooking gas, etc. Tomar says 86% small farmers in the country cannot invest in farming on their own, and the government is focusing on developing facilities like cold storages at village levels for them so that they are not forced to sell their produce at low prices.
SAHAKAR COOPTUBE CHANNEL
Known for hand-holding cooperatives across the country with funding and project ideas, NCDC has been proactive in delivering innovative solutions for the cooperative sector. Tomar says as part of the initiatives, NCDC has recently launched the ‘Sahakar Cooptube’ Channel with the aim to involve youth in the cooperative movement. Formation of new cooperatives is a prerequisite for bringing new life and dedication in the realm of cooperative movement, he says, adding NCDC’s guidance videos in different languages covering local requirements of 18 states on Sahakar Cooptube strengthens the major initiative of the government to promote and form 10,000 FPOs.
Working with the ideals mooted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for doubling the farmers’ income under ‘Stand Up India and Skilling India’, NCDC has recently launched several initiatives. Among them are programs like Sahakar-22 to develop cooperatives in Focus 222 districts, including aspirational districts, nurturing primary level cooperatives, Sahakar Mitra, an internship program, Yuva Sahakar, a startup scheme in cooperatives and Ayushman Sahakar, intended for the creation of healthcare infrastructure and services.
