Nagaland’s Minister for Public Health Engineering and Cooperation, N Jacob Zhimomi, joined Cooperation Ministers from across the country at the One-Day National Conference chaired by Union Minister of Home Affairs and Cooperation, Amit Shah, held at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi on Monday.
Speaking at the high-level conference, Zhimomi welcomed the Cooperation Ministry’s reform measures, especially praising the National Cooperative Database initiative. He said the new system has helped Nagaland streamline records and “categorize cooperative societies across various parameters,” which in turn has assisted the State Government “in canceling and weeding out non-functioning cooperatives.”
Highlighting the unique challenges of the Northeast, the Minister said that “unlike other parts of the country, the cooperatives in Northeast are managerially and financially weak and rely on Government support, especially on NCDC funding for taking up various business activities.”
Zhimomi called on the Government of India to continue financial support for National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) sponsored projects, such as the Integrated Cooperative Development Project, describing it as “very popular among the farming community in the Northeast.”
On the issue of digitizing cooperatives, Zhimomi flagged concerns related to the computerization of Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS). “One key challenge is the inability of PACS officials and secretaries to effectively understand and adopt the digitization process,” he stated, proposing the deployment of Data Entry Operators at each PACS for a minimum of three years.
This, he suggested, would allow time for internal capacity-building, after which PACS could eventually bear the cost on their own. He also raised implementation challenges faced by PACS in expanding their activities under central schemes like Jan Aushadhi Kendra, Common Service Centres, and Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samridhi Kendra.
Later in the day, Zhimomi joined the nationwide campaign ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam’ by planting saplings at Nagaland Guest House, RK Puram, New Delhi. He was accompanied by Orenthung Lotha, Secretary, Cooperation; Sharon Longchari, Joint Resident Commissioner, Nagaland House, New Delhi; and other officials and staff of Nagaland House.