Thakur Pyare Lal Singh Award (Cooperation Sector, Chhattisgarh)

What is the Thakur Pyare Lal Singh Award?

Thakur Pyare Lal Singh Award is the top annual recognition of the Department of Cooperation, Government of Chhattisgarh. According to the department's official scheme list, the award is given to one society or person for outstanding work in the field of cooperation in the state. In Hindi it appears as ठाकुर प्यारेलाल सिंह सम्मान.

Thakur Pyare Lal Singh Award is not a welfare benefit and carries no eligibility test based on income, land or category. It is a state honour, and it is conferred as one of the awards in the Chhattisgarh Rajya Alankaran, the set of state decorations presented around the Rajyotsav state foundation day celebrations on 1 November each year.

The award's importance is out of proportion to its cost to the exchequer. In a state where cooperative societies handle paddy procurement, short-term crop credit and the delivery of several welfare schemes into remote blocks, being named the best-performing society or individual in the sector is a meaningful signal, both to a society's own members and to the department that supervises it.

Who was Thakur Pyarelal Singh?

Thakur Pyarelal Singh was born on 21 December 1891 in the Rajnandgaon area of present-day Chhattisgarh and died in 1954. He was an Indian freedom fighter against British rule and the founder of the labour movement in Chhattisgarh, best known for organising mill workers in Rajnandgaon. He is remembered regionally as a pioneer of the cooperative movement, which is why the state's highest cooperative-sector honour carries his name.

Naming the award after him is a deliberate framing by the department. The award recognises cooperative work in the sense he practised it: organising ordinary people into collective institutions that hold their own economically, rather than administrative performance alone.

Who can receive the award?

Eligible for consideration:

• A cooperative society registered in Chhattisgarh under the Chhattisgarh Co-operative Societies Act, 1960, of any class. A Primary Agricultural Credit Cooperative Society, a marketing society, a consumer society or another registered type.
• An individual who has done outstanding work in the field of cooperation in the state, which in practice has included office bearers, organisers and people who built or revived cooperative institutions.

Not eligible, or cannot apply:

• A member of the public cannot apply for this award as a personal benefit. There is no application form, no cash entitlement and no claim right. This is the point most readers get wrong when they find the award on a scheme list.
• Societies and individuals outside Chhattisgarh, since it is a state honour for work in the state's cooperative sector.
• Nominees whose work falls outside the cooperative sector, however distinguished. Other fields have their own separate Rajya Alankaran honours.
• A society under supersession or carrying unresolved audit objections is not a realistic candidate, because the department's assessment rests on the society's performance and compliance record.

Because only one award is given each year, being eligible and being selected are very different things.

How to apply or get nominated for the award

1. Prepare the case in writing. Set out precisely what the society or individual achieved in the cooperative sector — membership growth, a loss-making society returned to profit, a new line of business started, procurement or credit delivery scaled up, or sustained service to members in a difficult area.
2. Attach the evidence. For a society, that means the registration certificate, audited accounts and a performance record. For an individual, it means documentation of the specific contribution and proof of identity and residence in Chhattisgarh.
3. Route the proposal through the district Deputy Registrar of Cooperative Societies, whose contact details are listed division-wise on coop.cg.gov.in. The district office is the department's normal channel for forwarding cooperative-sector proposals.
4. Confirm the current year's timeline with the district office, since nominations are collected ahead of the Rajyotsav ceremony around 1 November and the department does not publish a fixed calendar date.
5. Follow up at the Commissioner Cooperation and Registrar of Cooperative Societies office in Raipur, which makes the final assessment for the department's award.

There is no fee at any stage, and no online portal for this award.

Who has received the Thakur Pyare Lal Singh Award?

Recorded recipients across recent years show that the department alternates between individuals and institutions:

The Gaurela Sahkari Vipanan Sanstha Maryadit, Pendra Road, Bilaspur. A cooperative marketing society, has also been honoured with the award.

What the award does and does not carry

The Cooperation Department's own scheme page describes the award only as a recognition given to one society or person. It does not publish a cash component. Chhattisgarh Rajya Alankaran honours generally involve a citation, a shawl or memento and a cash amount presented at the Rajyotsav ceremony, and a figure of Rs 2 lakh is quoted for this award on non-government reference sites, but that figure does not appear on any Chhattisgarh government source. Anyone relying on the amount should confirm it with the Cooperation Department directly rather than with a third-party listing.

What the award reliably carries is the recognition itself, presented at the state ceremony, and the standing that follows for a society among its members and within the cooperative structure.

Key facts to remember

• Awards per year: exactly one, to a society or a person.
• Field: cooperation, in Chhattisgarh.
• Named after: Thakur Pyarelal Singh (born 21 December 1891, died 1954), freedom fighter and founder of the Chhattisgarh labour movement.
• Occasion: Chhattisgarh Rajya Alankaran, around Rajyotsav on 1 November.
• Route: departmental nomination via the district Deputy Registrar, not open application.
• Department: Department of Cooperation, Government of Chhattisgarh.

Where to ask about the award

• District Deputy Registrar of Cooperative Societies, listed division-wise on coop.cg.gov.in, for nomination routing and the current year's timeline.
• Commissioner Cooperation and Registrar of Cooperative Societies, headquarters Raipur; 0771-2511920. The Additional Commissioner's office is on 0771-2511923.
• Chhattisgarh State Cooperative Union, which the department funds for training and cooperative promotion activities and which is often involved in sector-recognition events.
• CM Helpline 1076 for a general Chhattisgarh government query.