In news
Recently, the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare unveiled Sahakar Pragya.
About Sahakar Pragya
The 45 new training modules of Sahakar Pragya of NCDC will impart training to primary cooperative societies in rural areas of the country along with Lakshmanrao Inamdar National Cooperative Research and Development Academy.
Sahakar Pragya embodies enhancing NCDC’s training capacity by 18fold through an elaborate network of 18 Regional Training Centres across the country by the dedicated, Laxmanrao Inamdar National Academy for Cooperative Research and Development (LINAC) set up and fully funded by NCDC.
About National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC)
NCDC was established by an Act of Parliament in 1963 as a statutory Corporation under the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare.
Functions of NCDC
Following are the functions of NCDC
Planning, promoting and financing programmes for production, processing, marketing, storage, export and import of agricultural produce, food stuffs, certain other notified commodities e.g. fertilisers, insecticides, agricultural machinery, lac, soap, kerosene oil, textile, rubber etc., supply of consumer goods and collection, processing, marketing, storage and export of minor forest produce through cooperatives, besides income generating stream of activities such as poultry, dairy, fishery, sericulture, handloom etc.
With the amendment to NCDC Act, it will now be able to finance projects in the rural industrial cooperative sectors and for certain notified services in rural areas like water conservation, irrigation and micro irrigation, agri-insurance, agro-credit, rural sanitation, animal health, etc.
It gives loans and grants to State Governments for financing primary and secondary level cooperative societies and direct to the national level and other societies having objects extending beyond one State.
Now, the Corporation can also go in for direct funding of projects under its various schemes of assistance on fulfillment of stipulated conditions.
Management
The Management vests in 51 member widely represented General Council to give shape to its policies and programmes and Board of Management with 12 members to cater to day-to-day activities. Besides its Head Office, NCDC functions through 18 Regional/State Directorates.
