STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Secretary, Cooperatives Department, Yasha Mudgal on Saturday chaired a meeting at Civil Secretariat here to discuss the plan of action to be adopted in registering Village Organizations (VOs) and Cluster Level Federations (CLFs) of Rural Livelihoods Mission (RLM) as Cooperative Societies so that rural women could avail benefit of different schemes of Cooperative Department, NCDC Schemes/ Projects.
Registrar, Cooperative Societies J&K, Shafqat Iqbal; Mission Director, RLM J&K, Indu Kanwal Chib; Additional Secretary Cooperatives; Joint Director Planning, Cooperatives; All District Registrars Cooperatives and All District Programme Managers of NRLM, besides senior officers of Cooperative and NRLM attended the meeting.
CEO, Farms Fresh Milk Producers and Precessors Cooperative limited, Samba and CEO Cluster Based Business Organization FPO/ JK Dairy, Jammu also participated in the meeting in the capacity of Stakeholders from sector.
Addressing the meeting, Secretary Cooperatives said that milk production in J&K has increased in the recent past and in per capita farmers income J&K is at third position in the country, after Punjab and Haryana. She added that after Village Organizations and Cluster Level Federations are registered as Cooperatives these could form their own Apex Level Milk Federation for processing the surplus milk and earn higher returns.
The Secretary also proposed that process of registration of Village Organizations of NRLM could be started in the month of September 2022 itself and subsequently, registration of CLFs as secondary Cooperative Societies can be taken up. She suggested that VOs need to be registered under the J&K Cooperative Societies Act of 1989 wherein Government can do the initial hand holding, monitor the working of the newly registered cooperatives and also help them hold election of their Management/ Board and conduct audit of their cooperatives annually.
The Secretary also opined that some of the VOs could also be registered as Primary Agriculture Credit Societies (PACS) for their linkage with the District Central Cooperative Banks (Secondary Level) and the State Cooperative Bank (Apex Level).
The Secretary also directed that the process for identification of land for and preparation of DPRs for establishment of Milk Processing Plants be started simultaneously so that the department doesn’t lose precious time in the exercise.
Mission Director NRLM during the meeting stated that there are 3401 VOs and 492 CLFs under NRLM. She endorsed that as many number of Cooperative societies could be registered and assured that field staff of NRLM will support Cooperative Department and ensure registration of maximum number of VOs as Cooperative Societies.
Registrar Cooperative Societies informed the meeting that the registration process is very simple and can be done by members of VOs online from home. He further stated that not more than a month is required to complete the registration process once initiated.
On the suggestion of Mission Director NRLM, Registrar Cooperative Societies agreed to hold two workshops one each at Jammu and Srinagar for orientation of District Registrar Cooperatives and District Program Managers of NRLM ensuring seamless coordination.
It was informed in meeting that Cooperative Department is also in consultation with Director Animal Husbandry Jammu/ Kashmir for setting up small milk processing plants in eight districts of J&K – four each from Kashmir (Pulwama, BUdgam, Baramulla & Ganderbal) and Jammu (Poonch, Rajouri, Doda and Ramban) Divisions where the potential of increased milk production is not been tapped fully.