Addressing the media after the Cabinet meeting, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Singh Thakur said this move of the Cabinet will benefit 13 crore farmers, mostly small and marginal.
This project proposes computerisation of about 63,000 functional PACS over a period of 5 years with a total budget outlay of Rs 2516 crore with Centre's share of Rs 1528 crore.
PACS account for 41% (3.01 crore farmers) of the KCC loans given by all entities in the Country and 95% of these KCC loans (2.95 crore farmers) through PACS are to the Small and Marginal farmers. The other two tiers viz. State Cooperative Banks (StCBs) and District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) have already been automated by the NABARD and brought on Common Banking Software (CBS).
However, majority of PACS have so far been not computerised and still functioning manually resulting in inefficiency and trust deficit. In some of the states, stand-alone and partial computerisation of PACS has been done.
There is no uniformity in the software being used by them and they are not interconnected with the DCCBs and StCBs.
"Under the guidance of Home Minister Amit Shah, it has been proposed to computerise all the PACS throughout the Country and bring them on a common platform at National level and have a Common Accounting System (CAS) for their day to day business," read an official release.
Computerisation of PACS, besides serving the purpose of financial inclusion and strengthening service delivery to farmers especially Small and Marginal Farmers (SMFs) will also will become nodal service delivery point for various services and provision of inputs like fertilizers, seeds etc. The project will help improve the outreach of the PACS as outlets for banking activities as well as non-Banking activities apart from improving digitalisation in rural areas.
The DCCBs can then enroll themselves as one of the important options for taking up various government schemes (where credit and subsidy is involved) which can be implemented through PACS. It will ensure speedy disposal of loans, lower transition cost, faster audit and reduction in imbalances in payments and accounting with the State.
The project comprises development of cloud-based common software with cyber security and data storage, providing hardware support to the PACS, digitisation of existing records including maintenance support and training. This software will be in vernacular language having flexibility of customisation as per the needs of the States.
Project Management Units (PMUs) will be set up at Central and State levels. District Level Support will also be provided at cluster of about 200 PACS. In the case of states where computerisation of PACS has been completed, Rs 50,000 per PACS will be reimbursed provided they agree to integrate with/adopt the common software, their hardware meets the required specifications, and the software was commissioned after February 1, 2017.
(PIB release)
As per the allegations, the middlemen had been registering themselves as farmers and getting identity cards on basis of documents submitted by the peasants to the Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS).
"There has been an unholy nexus between middlemen, PACS staff and cooperative staff to carry out the irregularities," stated Debabrata Mishra, the complainant.
He further alleged that the middlemen are purchasing paddy from farmers at cheaper rates and selling them to cooperative societies through fake identity cards.
Commenting on the allegations, Bargarh administration official Dibakar Bhoi said that cultivated farmland of farmers should only be registered with the cooperative societies. "If at all any irregularities are brought to our notice, appropriate action will be taken," he added.
The farmers are in distress as paddy could not be sold despite waiting for past seven days at the market yard. They are clueless as to why millers are not procuring paddy after they were asked to bring paddy to the market yard and given tokens.
The leftover paddy has raised questions about the procurement process in the district.
Meanwhile, officials of the Hilunga PACS said they are aware of the trouble of the farmers and stated the paddy procurement target has already been achieved leading to leftover paddy.
The District Supplies Officer stated action will be taken soon to increase the paddy procurement target and purchase the surplus consignment.
In another case, farmers of Dhenkanal have been troubled at several market yards as millers deduct four to five kgs per quintal of paddy citing quality issues. They are forced to go by the decision of millers when they have spent considerable amount on transportation of the agricultural produce.
Krushna Chandra Panda, a farmer, said, “Despite deduction we are ready to sell paddy as we cannot take it back and spend money on transportation.”
Hadibandhu Sethi, Dhenkanal District Supplies officer, said, “There is no guideline to deduct four or five kgs of paddy as alleged by farmers. However, I will direct officials to probe into the matter.”
https://youtu.be/v1paJYtv2ho
The LAMPS and PACS workers who have been agitating under the aegis of Odisha Samabaya Karmachari Samnya Samiti and Samabaya Samiti Karmachari Milita Mancha met Odisha Food Supplies and Cooperation Minister Surya Narayan Patro today to discuss their demands.
Soon after the meeting Advisor of Samabaya Samiti Karmachari Milita Mancha, Matru Prasad Mishra called off the strike. However, Odisha Samabaya Karmachari Samnya Samiti's President, Ghanashyma Jena later informed that the strike has not been withdrawn and decision will be taken after holding discussions with the association members.
The LAMPS and PACS workers who come under the Cooperative Department have been agitating since past 27 days demanding regularisation of employment.
https://youtu.be/2xeblzIYwa8
As the Rabi crop loans distribution process has begun, the Secretary asked the LAMPS and PACS’ staff to call off the strike, sources said.
Meanwhile, the staff of LAMPS and PACS said the agitation will continue until their demands are not met.
“The government is trying to threaten us issuing such orders but we will not withdraw our protest and continue until all our demands are fulfilled,” said secretary of Odisha State Cooperative Employees' Coordination Committee, Digambar Nayak.
The LAMPS and PACS’ staff are on dharna in front of the State Assembly over five point charter of demands which include pension scheme for elected representatives of LAMPS, medical insurance, government employees’ status and implementation of 7th Pay Commission recommendations in cooperative societies.
Earlier in September, the staff of LAMPS had submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Agriculture and Finance Ministers over their demands.
https://youtu.be/-WTpb35cAWA
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi today, chief minister Naveen Patnaik said consequent upon demonetisation of high value notes and the restriction on District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) to accept the Sustainable Banking Network (SBN) as deposits and for exchange of such notes, the DCCBs are facing a severe liquidity crunch. Besides, the currency chest branches of the commercial banks are not able to provide currency to the DCCBs to cope with the demands of the farmers at the PACS level for their Rabi operations.
The chief minister further said since PACS are treated at par with individuals in respect of drawal of funds from their accounts with the DCCBs, they are able to draw only Rs 24,000 per week from DCCBs to meet the credit requirement of their farmer members. As a result, they are unable to cater to the demand for crop loans, procurement proceeds and insurance claims pertaining to Kharif-2015.
He also informed the Prime Minister about the difficulties in transferring the procurement price of paddy from the apex State Cooperative Bank account to the farmers’ account held in different nationalised banks, cooperative banks and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs), if it is a Jan Dhan account. Such transfers were rejected in many cases causing enormous hardship to the farmers.
Keeping in view these difficulties, Patnaik urged the Prime Minister to take necessary measures by directing the concerned authorities to make adequate currency available to the DCCBs by the Currency Chest branches of the commercial banks which should be monitored by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Regional Office, to enable the DCCBs to provide crop loans to the farmer members and also pay their paddy procurement proceeds as well as insurance claims.
The chief minister also requested the Prime Minister to lift restrictions imposed on PACS to draw Rs 24,000 per week so that they can cater to the credit requirements of the farmer members.
Besides, he also requested the Prime Minister to allow the procurement dues of the farmers, which is being transferred from a government account, irrespective of the amount, to be credited to the farmers account without insisting on the time consuming process of KYC (know your customer) verification.
After holding a review meeting with the Food Supplies and Cooperative department officials, Dasburma informed that paddy procurement is underway in 9 districts through 255 Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS).
The total value of the procured paddy is pegged at Rs 525 crores.
The minister also said that demonetization has affected paddy procurement in the State and the farmers are facing difficulties in withdrawing money.
“The paddy procurement process of the current Kharif season has begun in 9 districts and around 67 blocks and urban local bodies have participated in the process. 255 PACS are now involved in the process. Till now 3.58 lakh metric tonne worth of paddy has been procured from farmers. We have already paid Rs 409 crores to farmers online, while the total cost of the paddy procured is Rs 525 crore,” said Dasburma.
On the other hand, the Congress has criticised the double standards of the state government towards the farmers.
Also Read: BJP demands CBI probe into ‘faulty’ paddy procurement
Briefing media persons in Koraput, PCC president Prasad Harichandan said contrary to its commitment, the state government is not providing the minimum support price (MSP) on paddy to the farmers.
Condemning the arrest of two farmer leaders Akshaya Kumar and Seshadeb Nanda by the Commissionerate Police on Monday evening, Harichandan said while the state government claims that it gives top priority to the welfare of the farmers, on the other hand, it has taken repressive measures towards them with the illegal detention of these two senior farmer leaders.
The godowns constructed at the Primary Agricultural Cooperative Society (PACS) level by the Cooperation Department for conservation of fertilizers, seeds and harvested paddy have a cumulative capacity of 41,425 MT.
The CM also distributed mobile phones to 10 women Kisan Credit Card holders on the occasion. Under this programme, 41,000 free mobile phones will be distributed to Women Kisan Credit Card holders.
"Today in continuation of our pro-farmer policies 100 godowns of 41,400 metric tonne capacity were dedicated. Besides distribution of mobile phones to 41,000 women engaged in farming sector was also started to enable them to start a better access to agri information and agri marketing," Patnaik said.
"These godowns will help to the societies to enhance their capacity. Very soon five hundred more godowns will be constructed," Cooperation and Excise Minister Damodar Rout stated.
The two programmes are part of the Cooperation Department’s initiative to strengthen the PACS with an objective to cater to all requirements of the farming community, including dispensation of agriculture credit, storage and distribution of fertilisers and seeds and procurement of surplus agricultural produces at minimum selling price (MSP), said a department official.
Cooperation and Excise Minister Dr Damodar Rout, Agriculture Minister Pradeep Maharathy, Finance Minister Pradeep Amat along with many MLAs, secretaries of various departments were present at inauguration ceremony, organised by the Cooperation Department.
In a letter to Union minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Ananth Kumar on Saturday, chief minister Naveen Patnaik said with the coverage of increased area under high yielding and hybrid varieties in the state, there is a need for enhancing the consumption level of fertilizers, both chemical and organic, to ensure sustainable crop production and higher productivity. Keeping this in view, the state government has launched a programme to increase fertilizer consumption to a level of 90 Kg per hectare in the next five years.
Patnaik said the state government had taken various steps such as provision of corpus funds for state agencies, namely Odisha State Cooperative Marketing Federation (MARKFED) and Odisha Agro Industries Corporation (OAIC) for pre-positioning of fertilizers. Besides, the state had also taken steps for construction of godowns at the Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) level for pre-positioning of fertilizers in order to make iy available to the farmers of the state in time.
“All such steps will require handling of a huge quantity of different chemical fertilizers at various points in the state since the chemical fertilizers are made available to the state at present from factories located at far off places like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh and also through ports, mostly In Andhra Pradesh.
To ensure smooth supply of fertilizers to various places in the state, we need to have sufficient number of railway rake points,” he pointed out.
The chief minister further said lack of the required number of railway rake points is a major stumbling block in timely supply of the required quantity of fertilizers to the farmers, especially during the peak period. Apart from this, the state is also facing operational difficulties in the existing 21 rake points due to inadequate infrastructure facilities. Besides, the state government has proposed establishment of three new rake points at Bamur (Angul), Rengali (Sambalpur) and Dunguripalli (Subarnapur) and provision of two point rakes in six places.
The secretary identified as Masood Mohammed works at Dubula PACS. He is also in the charge of Charbhata PACS, reports said.
The anti-graft agency conducted the raid on charges of amassing properties disproportionate to his known sources of income. A joint team of vigilance officials from Bolangir, Sonepur, Bargarh and Sambalpur is carrying out the crackdown.
“We are conducting searches at the house of the PACS secretary at Salepali on charges of accumulating disproportionate assets. All the documents are being verified. No estimation has been made yet to ascertain the cost of all properties as the raids are still underway. We began the searches at 6 am,” Vigilance DSP, Dasarathy Sethi said.
The bank accounts in the name of the secretary and his relatives, movable and immobile assets are being examined, he added.
Last week, the anti-corruption wing had conducted raids at the residence of Retired Superintendent of Odisha State Warehouse Corporation in Bolangir. The retired official identified as Ganapati Purohit was accused of amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.
The total credit potential under agriculture and ancillary activities for 2017-18 was projected at Rs 36,122.64 crore in the State Focus Paper released at the State Credit seminar conducted by NABARD here.
The State Focus Paper for 2016-17 envisaged total priority sector credit potential of around Rs 58,882 crore, an official release said.
Inaugurating the seminar, Odisha Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi urged the banks to enhance their credit flow to agricultural sector in 2017-18 for realisation of the budget objectives announced by the Centre, it said.
The Chief Secretary also emphasised on extension of credit to skilled youth who opt for self employment.
Further, Padhi asked lenders to link Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS) with the electronic fund transfer system of the banks so that PACS could to some extent provide the banking services, particularly to unbanked.
The Chief Secretary said that steps are being taken to computerise 2,700 PACS and expressed the hope that by end of March 2017, all PACS would be computerised.
After computerisation, linking of PACS with electronic fund transfer system of the banks would go a long way in extending agricultural credit to the farmers.
In his welcome address, K C Panigrahi, Chief General Manager, NABARD, said the document assesses infrastructure available and planned and is used as a referral document for planning infrastructure and credit dispensation.
The document provides inputs to government departments, various organisations/entities and banks in formulation of their policies and programmes for ensuring enhanced credit flow.
He also said that credit projections for Odisha for 2017-18 at Rs 66,554 crore is based on the potential assessed under various sectors and sub sectors in all agro climatic zones of the state. He solicited cooperation of state government, banks and other stakeholders towards for achieving the potential.
Addressing the seminar, Development Commissioner R Balakrishnan urged NABARD to work with government so that the ultimate objective of catering to real need of farmers could be achieved.
Principal Secretary, Finance, Tuhin Kanta Pandey emphasised that corporate credit plan of each bank should be designed in tune with State Credit Plan.
While the deadline of registration is September 15, the department is now on a mission mode to ensure registrations as quickly as possible.
As per the directions of the government, the PACS should motivate the sharecroppers, small and marginal farmers for registration and participation in paddy procurement operation.
The Registrar of the Cooperative Societies in this regard has shot letters to all the divisional deputy registrars and central cooperative bank secretaries stressing that the PACS should encourage and give priority to the sharecroppers, small and marginal farmers and members of JLG groups involved in farming, in the registration process for Kharif procurement season.
As per reports, till now only 1,815 PACS have begun registration while 691 PACS are yet to register the farmers.
In comparison to last year, the registration this year is underway on a mission mode to achieve new farmer enrolment/renewal of farmers-target of 33% enhancement within September 15, 2018. However, only 1% of new farmers have registered till now while only 11% of farmer registrations have been renewed, reports added.
In view of this, the state government has directed that steps should be taken for commencement of online farmer registration in 793 PACS within two days failing which disciplinary action against delinquent officers will be taken.
“We have provisions for enrolment of all farmers and we are even providing loans to them. If we find any one delaying the process of registration, necessary action will be taken,” said Cooperation Minister, Surya Narayan Patro.
While 11,20,000 farmers had registered during Kharif registration for Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2017-18, this year around 1,32,512 have registered so far.
This apart, the letter of the Registrar of the Cooperative Societies also stated that the registration in the Kharif 2018-19 procurement season needs urgent sensitization and an awareness programme is to be chalked out in the local PACS, Cooperative Banks, Block Offices, Tehsil Offices by proper display of flexi banners and display boards.
Earlier on February 16, OTV had published a report which showed how the state government is planning to stop paddy procurement while huge quantities of paddy are lying in the open at various mandis.
However, as per the latest directive, all PACS have been asked to issue tokens to farmers while action will be taken in case any irregularities are detected and the entire stock of paddy would be confiscated if it comes to the market yard without tokens.Sources said the move is aimed at putting a check on distress sale of paddy by farmers.
“The paddy must be brought to the mandis first and then only millers will be allowed to lift it. The millers will be debarred from the procurement operations if they are found purchasing paddy directly,” said a senior official.
In the letter, the Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Department secretary,VV Yadav stated that “As enshrined in the policy, the State government is committed to procure the surplus paddy from the farmers, who are willing to sell the paddy to the government as per norms.”
Moreover, the authorised officers have been asked to visit mandis and mills regularly and share their observations on WhatsApp.
The Civil Supplies officers have been asked to visit the PACS in case they fail to upload data regarding paddy procurement as it will lead to delay in payments to farmers.
The alleged crop-loan fraud in the Deuli PACS has come to fore when some farmers received letters from Insurance firms that notified them of having credit against their names. Crying scam, shell-shocked farmers are now in a quandary.
"I never ever had taken any crop loan from the PACS. I have no knowledge about any such loan on my name. An Insurance company has sent a letter showing Rs 22,124 loan against my name," said Bhagirathi Barik of Bangarkuan village.
Another farmer, Gangadhar Barik, from the same village complained of a similar fraud allegation. ”A letter was sent to me showing Rs 11, 128 loan against my name," he claimed.
Allegations of such crop loan frauds are not from a handful, many farmers have alleged such loan fraud against their names. They also claimed that PACS officials demand 10 per cent PC (bribe money) to release claim amount under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).
Responding to the allegations, Laxmidhar Subudhi, joint Registrar of Kendrapara Societies Group, said a thorough probe will be conducted and action will be taken against the guilty.
In a letter to all its area managers, the Markfed-Odisha has strictly directed them to henceforth ensure that cooperative societies buy fertilizers only from the federation.
The Markfed also barred all PACS, LAMPCS and FSCS to purchase urea from any other agencies including the Indian Farmer's Fertilisers Cooperative Limited (IFFCO).
It may be noted that Markfed is the only state-run agency which provides service in the field of marketing and distribution of chemical fertilizers to PACS/LAMPCS in the State. The State Government has also provided Rs 75 crore to Markfed for pre-positioning of urea.
However, there were allegations that some societies were becoming dealers of IFFCO by taking licenses from the district agriculture officer and thereby violating the rule.