Jammu, Aug 5: Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah on Wednesday asserted that the Centre was complementing the efforts of the J&K administration through a multi-pronged strategy aimed at strengthening the viability, governance and operational capacity of cooperative institutions.
He stated that as on July 15, 2026, 1,611 new cooperative societies were registered in Jammu and Kashmir, comprising 232 multipurpose Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACSs), 1,339 Dairy Cooperative Societies and 40 Fishery Cooperative Societies.
“Further, 760 existing Dairy Cooperative Societies and one Fishery Cooperative Society have been strengthened,” Shah informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply to the question of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Sat Paul Sharma.
Sat Sharma asked if the central government prepared a roadmap to revive non-functional cooperative societies in Jammu and Kashmir; the financial and administrative measures taken to strengthen cooperative institutions in remote and border areas and the initiatives undertaken to strengthen Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Shah stated that to facilitate objective and continuous assessment of cooperative societies, the Ministry of Cooperation launched the Cooperative Ranking Framework on January 24, 2025 and shared it with the States and UTs.
This framework provides standardized parameters—including audit compliance, financial performance, and operational activities—that enable the State Registrar of Cooperative Societies (RCS) to conduct independent assessments and take necessary steps to strengthen societies at the State, district, and block levels. Revival of non-functional cooperative societies is undertaken by the respective state governments and UT administrations in accordance with the applicable Cooperative Societies Acts, Rules and bye-laws.
“Further, the Ministry is complementing the efforts of the UT Administration through a multi-pronged strategy aimed at strengthening the viability, governance and operational capacity of cooperative institutions. The measures include computerization and digital profiling of PACS; adoption of model bye-laws enabling PACS to undertake more than 25 business activities; formation of new multipurpose PACS, dairy and fishery cooperative societies in uncovered areas; capacity building and business diversification; and institutional support through the sub-office of the National Cooperative Development Corporation in Jammu and Kashmir,” Amit Shah asserted.
He stated that the Union Territory of J&K was also included within the operational framework of the Sardar Patel Cooperative Dairy Federation Limited to facilitate organized milk procurement, modern dairy practices and improved market linkages.
Under the centrally sponsored project for computerisation of PACS, according to Shah, functional PACS are being brought onto a common ERP-based national software to improve transparency, accounting, governance and operational efficiency.
“In Jammu and Kashmir, 708 PACS have been sanctioned for computerisation. As on July 15, 2026, hardware has been provided to 537 PACS, which have also been onboarded on the ERP platform and declared as e-PACS. Training programmes are also being conducted for PACS functionaries on governance, ERP operations, preparation of business plans, convergence with government schemes and diversification of activities,” Shah informed.
Further, PACSs, according to the Union Minister of Cooperation, are being enabled to function as Common Service Centres (CSCs) and agricultural-input service centres to improve access to digital services, banking, insurance and agricultural inputs in remote and border areas. “Linkages are also being facilitated with national-level cooperative societies engaged in exports, organic products and quality seeds,” the Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said.
