1.Ministry of Cooperation is developing a comprehensive, authentic and updated National Cooperative Database in a phased manner. The objective of developing National Cooperative Database is to provide a single point access to authentic and updated information on 8.5 lakh cooperatives of different sectors across the country. The database would capture data on several parameters related to cooperatives i.e. location & no. of members, economic activities, their upward & backward linkages, etc.
2. This Database shall facilitate all stakeholders viz. Central Ministries, State Governments, Cooperative Federations, Cooperators and Sectoral Institutions like NABARD, etc. in planning, policy making & implementation to strengthen the cooperative movement in the country. The database will also help in identifying gaps in terms of geographical spread of cooperatives.
3. After several round of consultations with stakeholders (from primary to apex) sector specific data fields were identified. Advisory and Steering Committee comprising of stakeholders were formed for providing regular inputs/suggestions on regular & smooth data collection. A Project Management Group (PMG) was set up for software development. About 4000 Data Entry Operators (including 560 AICTE interns) were engaged for data entries at State RCS Offices at district level. About 2000 Nodal Officers were nominated by State RCS/Functional Registrars to validate and certify data. The data collection was carried out in phased manner.
Under Phase-I, the mapping of about 2.64 lakh primary cooperative societies working in three sectors i.e. Primary Agriculture Credit Societies (PACS), Dairy and Fisheries has been completed in February, 2023.
Under Phase-II, the data related to StCB, DCCB, UCB, SCARDB, PCARDB, Sugar Cooperative Mills, Multi-State Cooperative Societies etc. are being collected directly or through their National/State Federations and their vertical linkages are being ascertained. The phase is expected to be completed by June, 2023.
Under Phase-III, the Database is being extended to remaining about 5.8 lakh cooperative societies working in other sectors. Under this phase, data of about 2 lakh cooperative societies have been collected so far. The phase is expected to be completed by June, 2023.
4. Way forward:
i.Integration of database with other database of Govt. of India and State Govts. like Water Bodies Database, Livestock census, etc.
ii.Expansion of database to other socio-economic attributes/data fields of cooperative societies.
