District Panels Facilitating Centre's Target of 2 Lakh Agriculture Credit Societies Set Up

PACS is a village-based organization that collects deposits from rural farmers and makes agricultural loans. It is regarded as a critical agency for resolving a wide range of agricultural development issues and improving the socioeconomic position of the poor and vulnerable segments of society.

According to the notification issued by the state cooperative department, the chief secretary will chair a state cooperative development committee that will oversee the work of the district committee, which will be led by the district collector and comprised of 14 members.

Aside from PACS, the panel will assist in the formation of fishery societies and dairy cooperative societies. "The goal of this exercise is to identify villages that do not have PACS." The newly established societies will not only allow open credit for farmers, but will also make loans available to them.

Aside from that, the district committees will continue to monitor the operation of the existing PACS. A database of all PACS will be created soon, according to a senior state cooperative agency official.

There are already 65,000 PACS across the country, with Maharashtra accounting for nearly a third of them - 20,000. PACS are district central cooperative banks that oversee the implementation of various loan initiatives.

They are also in charge of determining agricultural damage compensation. They also ensure that the farmer is not in debt by obtaining loans at higher interest rates from private lenders.