Cabinet approves Rs 1 lakh crore mega plan to create grain storage functionality in cooperative sector

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday permitted a Rs 1 lakh crore plan for “World’s Largest Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative Sector” by the convergence of varied schemes of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Ministry of Food Processing Industries. This will create the world’s largest grain storage functionality in India inside the cooperative sector.

In order to verify a time-bound and uniform implementation of the plan in an knowledgeable technique, the Ministry of Cooperation will implement a pilot enterprise in a minimum of 10 chosen Districts of varied States/ UTs inside the nation. The Pilot would provide treasured insights into the numerous regional requirements of the enterprise, the learnings from which is able to in all probability be suitably included for the country-wide implementation of the Plan, in response to a press launch issued by the cabinet.

The switch will help reduce crop harm and forestall distress product sales by farmers. This can also help in strengthening the nation’s meals security and creating job alternate options in rural India.

Under the plan, an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) will in all probability be constituted beneath the Chairmanship of Amit Shah, the Minister of Cooperation and Home, with Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister Piyush Goyal, Food Processing Industries Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras and Secretaries concerned as members. The IMC will modify suggestions/ implementation methodologies of the schemes of the respective Ministries as and when need arises, contained in the permitted outlays and prescribed aims.

Several schemes beneath the concerned ministries have been chosen for convergence beneath the Plan. The Plan may very well be utilized by utilizing the on the market outlays provided beneath the acknowledged schemes of the respective Ministries. Under it, the federal authorities will create 700 lakh tonnes of grain storage functionality inside the cooperative sector over the next 5 years.

The IMC will work within the route of the facilitation of the ‘World’s Largest Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative Sector’ by the creation of infrastructure akin to godowns, and so forth. for Agriculture and Allied features, at chosen ‘viable’ Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS).

According to the federal authorities, the plan is multi-pronged – it targets to cope with not merely the shortage of agricultural storage infrastructure inside the nation by facilitating the establishment of godowns on the diploma of the Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), nevertheless would moreover enable PACS to undertake diversified totally different actions.

The PACS will in all probability be enabled to function as procurement centres for State Agencies/ Food Corporation of India (FCI), serving as Fair Price Shops (FPS), organising custom-made hiring centres, organising frequent processing fashions, along with assaying, sorting, grading fashions for agricultural produce, and so forth.

The creation of decentralized storage functionality on the native diploma would reduce meals grain wastage and strengthen the meals security of the nation. Providing diversified selections to the farmers, it might forestall the distressed sale of crops, thus enabling the farmers to know larger prices for his or her produce.

It would vastly reduce the charge incurred inside the transportation of meals grains to procurement centres and as soon as extra transporting the shares once more from warehouses to FPS. Through a ‘whole-of-Government’ technique, the Plan would strengthen PACS by enabling them to diversify their enterprise actions, thus enhancing the incomes of the farmer members as correctly.

Calling it a “visionary decision” which is ready to lay the muse of a prosperous, self-reliant and meals grains-rich India, Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah said that lack of agricultural storage functionality ends in wastage of meals grains and farmers are compelled to advertise their crops at low prices. With this decision, farmers will now get trendy grain storage facilities of their blocks via Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), so that they might be able to get truthful prices for his or her grains, he added.

Background of the scheme

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has observed that every one out efforts should be made to leverage the ability of the cooperatives and rework them into worthwhile and vibrant enterprise enterprises to understand the imaginative and prescient of “Sahakar-se-Samriddhi”. To take this imaginative and prescient forward, the Ministry of Cooperation has launched out the ‘World’s Largest Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative Sector’.

The plan entails organising diversified sorts of agri-infrastructure, along with warehouses, custom-made hiring centres, processing fashions, and so forth. on the diploma of PACS, thus remodeling them into multipurpose societies. Creation and modernization of infrastructure on the diploma of PACS will reduce meals grain wastage by creating ample storage functionality, strengthening the meals security of the nation and enabling farmers to know larger prices for his or her crops.

There are higher than 1,00,000 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) inside the nation with an unlimited member base of higher than 13 crore farmers. In view of the mandatory place carried out by PACS on the grass root diploma in remodeling the agricultural and rural panorama of the Indian financial system and leveraging their deep attain as a lot as the ultimate mile, this initiative has been undertaken to rearrange decentralized storage functionality on the diploma of PACS along with totally different agri infrastructure, which could not solely strengthen the meals security of the nation nevertheless would moreover enable PACS to transform themselves into vibrant monetary entities.