Govt forms panel for common coop software

The state government has formed a committee to look into the modalities of bringing all cooperative societies onto a single software platform, Cooperation Minister Bandeppa Kashempur said on Monday.

This decision was taken at a meeting Kashempur chaired with representatives of all district cooperative central (DCC) banks, the Karnataka State Cooperative Apex Bank and other top officials.

“When we’re implementing big schemes such as crop loan waiver, Badavara Bandhu, Kayaka and so on, we need a common software system for primary agricultural credit societies (PACS) all the way up to Apex bank,” Kashempur said. At present, all 21 DCC banks have computerised their processes whereas only about 800 out of 5,400 PACS have done so, he said.

He added that it was the Centre that pushed for a common cooperative software two years ago, but has not made any move on that front.

The minister also said that an estimated 10 lakh new farmers will be brought under the cooperative credit system this financial year.

“We have 22 lakh farmers under the cooperative sector and the same ones are getting refinanced. Our average lending amount is Rs 46,000. Even if the societies lend a minimum Rs 30,000 to 10 lakh new farmers, it’ll come up to Rs 3,000 crore. We will place this before the chief minister for approval,” Kashempur said.

No waiver yet

The cooperative crop loan waiver for 1.36 lakh farmers is still pending as their Aadhaar and ration cards are not matching, Kashempur said. “Officials have been instructed to head into villages and trace these farmers to find out what the problem really is,” he said. So far, 8 lakh farmers have received Rs 3,407 crore towards the loan waiver. “Our deadline is July 10 and all the remaining payments will be done before that.”