Digitization of Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) — Chhattisgarh

What is the Digitization of Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies project?

Digitization of Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) is a centrally sponsored project implemented in Chhattisgarh by the Cooperation Department (Sahakarita Vibhag), under the Commissioner, Cooperation and Registrar of Cooperative Societies. According to the department's scheme page at coop.cg.gov.in, the project aims at computerising all PACS in the state to improve efficiency, accountability, transparency and profitability.

The department publishes three hard parameters for the project:

• Duration: 2022-23 to 2026-27, a five-year period.
• Cost: Rs 3.91 lakh per society, with a 60:40 sharing ratio between the Centre and the State.
• Software: developed at the national level, with the software cost and training covered by the Government of India and NABARD.

Chhattisgarh's own progress numbers are published on the department's Sahkar-se-Samriddhi page. All 2,058 Primary Agricultural Credit Cooperative Societies in the state are covered, of which 2,028 were selected in the first phase, and as on 31 December 2024 all selected PACS had reached the Go-Live stage.

Why is Chhattisgarh computerising its PACS?

Chhattisgarh's PACS are not only lenders. The Cooperation Department notes that PACS play an important role in procuring paddy at the support price, distribute fertiliser, seeds and pesticides, and in many villages also run the Public Distribution System outlet. A single society may therefore hold a farmer's crop loan account, his paddy sale record and his ration entitlement.

Before computerisation, all of that ran on manual ledgers. The department's stated benefit is direct: with computerisation, loan deposits, interest calculations and transaction records relating to farmers remain updated, enabling farmers to get accurate information about their accounts instantly.

A second reason is regulatory. Under the Chhattisgarh Cooperative Societies Act, 1960, the Cooperation Department audits, inspects and investigates societies. Computerised books make that audit trail continuous rather than annual. The department is separately running a Computerization of the State Registrar of Cooperative Societies Office project so the regulator's own offices become paperless, with hardware shared 60:40 between the Centre and the State and software and cloud infrastructure fully funded by the Government of India.

Who is covered, and who is not eligible?

Covered under the project:

• Registered, functional Primary Agricultural Credit Cooperative Societies and LAMPS in Chhattisgarh, selected by the Cooperation Department.
• Members of those societies, who receive the downstream benefit of computerised accounts and, increasingly, Common Service Centre facilities at the society counter.

Not eligible, and cannot apply:

• Individual farmers and citizens. No person can apply for this project. It funds institutional hardware, software and training.
• Non-functional or liquidated societies. The department's parallel programme for uncovered Gram Panchayats deals with reviving or liquidating such societies, which is a separate track from computerisation.
• Cooperative societies outside the PACS/LAMPS category, for example housing, consumer or weavers' societies, which are not part of this particular project even though they are registered under the same Act.
• Traders, agents or private companies offering to "get a society computerised" for a fee. Hardware and software procurement is done by the government, not by the society through a vendor of its choosing.

What does a computerised PACS deliver to its members?

• On-demand account statements showing the short-term crop loan, deposits made and interest calculated.
• Faster crop-loan sanction and renewal, because the member's history is already in the system.
• Common Service Centre services. The Cooperation Department reports that 2,017 PACS had applied online for CSC IDs and 1,929 IDs had been activated as on 31 December 2024, with Rs 1.38 crore of transactions recorded.
• A base for other cooperative-sector services. Chhattisgarh has adopted the model bye-laws in all 2,058 PACS to make them multi-purpose, has set up Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samriddhi Kendras in all 2,058 PACS, and reports 26 societies running Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Janaushadhi Kendras.

What documents are needed?

How to apply, the real route for a society and for a member

There is no online citizen application for this project. The steps below set out what actually happens.

1. Selection is made by the Cooperation Department, not by application. The Commissioner and Registrar's office identifies eligible functional PACS and LAMPS from the state's list of 2,058 societies and includes them in the phase plan approved under the centrally sponsored project.
2. The society completes its readiness work. The PACS must have current audited accounts, a working board or an administrator, and premises able to take the hardware. The society's Secretary coordinates this with the District Deputy Registrar of Cooperative Societies.
3. Hardware is supplied and staff are trained on the national software. The application software is common across states; its cost and the training are met by the Government of India and NABARD.
4. The society migrates its ledgers and reaches Go-Live. Existing member loan and deposit balances are entered, reconciled against the manual ledger, and the society begins transacting on the software.
5. A member asks the Secretary for a computerised statement. Once the society is live, take your Kisan Kitab or membership number to the society counter and ask for a printed account statement.

How to check whether your society is computerised

1. Ask the Secretary of your PACS whether the society has reached Go-Live under the PACS computerisation project.
2. Ask for a printed, system-generated account statement. A society still on manual ledgers cannot produce one.
3. Check whether the society counter offers Common Service Centre services, which is a strong indicator that the CSC ID has been activated.
4. If you cannot get an answer, contact the District Deputy Registrar of Cooperative Societies for your district.

Common problems after computerisation, and how to fix them

• Opening balance mismatch. Migration errors between the manual ledger and the software are the commonest complaint. Ask the society to reconcile against the old ledger page and pass a correction entry; keep a copy of both.
• Name or Aadhaar mismatch in the member record, which blocks Aadhaar-based services at the counter. Get the member master corrected at the society.
• Interest wrongly computed on an interest-free crop loan. Chhattisgarh provides short-term agricultural loans of up to Rs 5,00,000 interest-free through cooperative societies, so any interest debit on such a loan should be queried immediately.
• Society staff not trained. Raise it with the block Cooperative Inspector; training is a funded part of the project.

Where to raise a grievance

• Secretary, Primary Agricultural Credit Cooperative Society — first stop for any record error.
• Block Cooperative Inspector, then the District Deputy Registrar / Assistant Registrar of Cooperative Societies.
• Office of the Commissioner, Cooperation and Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Raipur to 0771-2511920; Additional Commissioner 0771-2511923.
• The Cooperation Department also decides disputes between members and societies in a quasi-judicial capacity under the Chhattisgarh Cooperative Societies Act, 1960, at both trial and appellate level.

No fee is payable by a member for a computerised account statement, and no agent can charge for "getting your society digitised", the project is government funded end to end.