Bharatiya Beej Sahkari Samiti Limited (BBSSL)

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Why in the News?
• News Summary
• What Is a Primary Agricultural Credit Society (PACS)?
• Benefits/Advantages of PACS

Why in News?

• Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah has established a new cooperative society, Bharatiya Beej Sahkari Samiti Limited (BBSSL), to boost domestic production as well as exports of certified seeds.

What Is a Primary Agricultural Credit Society (PACS)?

• PACS are village level cooperative credit societies that serve as the last link in a three-tier cooperative credit structure headed by the State Cooperative Banks (SCB) at the state level.
  • Credit from the SCBs is transferred to the District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs), that operate at the district level.
  • The DCCBs work with PACS, which deal directly with farmers.
• Since these are cooperative bodies, individual farmers are members of the PACS, and office-bearers are elected from within them. A village can have multiple PACS.
• PACSs provide short-term, and medium-term agricultural loans to the farmers for the various agricultural and farming activities.
  • The first PACS was formed in 1904.
• Currently, there are more than 1,00,000 PACS in the country with a huge member base of more than 13 crore farmers. However, only 63,000 of them are functional.

Benefits/Advantages of PACS

• The attraction of the PACS lies in the last mile connectivity they offer.
• For farmers, timely access to capital is necessary at the start of their agricultural activities.
• PACS have the capacity to extend credit with minimal paperwork within a short time.
  • With other scheduled commercial banks, farmers have often complained of tedious paperwork and red tape.
• For farmers, PACS provide strength in numbers, as most of the paperwork is taken care of by the office-bearer of the PACS.
• In the case of scheduled commercial banks, farmers have to individually meet the requirement and often have to take the help of agents to get their loans sanctioned.
• Major Drawback of PACS –
  • Since PACS are cooperative bodies, however, political compulsions often trump financial discipline, and the recovery of loans is hit.
  • Chairpersons of PACS participate in electing the office-bearers of DCCBs.
  • Political affiliations are important here as well.

News Summary

• Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah addressed the “National Symposium on Production of Improved and Traditional Seed through Cooperative Sector”.
• It was organized by Bharatiya Beej Sahkari Samiti Limited (BBSSL).
• BBSSL will have a huge contribution in making India self-reliant in the field of seed conservation, promotion and research in the coming days.

Key highlights of the speech

• Scientifically designed and prepared seeds are not available to every farmer in the country.
• India is one of the few countries in the world where agriculture was systematically introduced and that is why our traditional seeds are most suitable for quality and physical nutrition.
• The traditional Indian seeds have to be conserved and passed on to the coming generations, so that the production of healthy grains, fruits and vegetables continues and this work will be done by BBSSL.
• There is a huge market for export of seeds in the world and India's share in it is less than one percent currently.
  • A time-bound target should be set for a vast and agriculture-oriented country like India to gain a larger share in the global seed market.
• BBSSL will also connect Primary Agricultural Credit Society (PACS) with seed production like all other types of cooperative societies including agriculture, horticulture, dairy, fisheries.
• Through PACS, every farmer will be able to produce seeds in his field. These seeds will be certified and after branding, BBSSL will contribute in delivering these seed not only to the entire country but also to the whole world.
• Today, the requirement of seeds in India itself is about 465 lakh quintals, out of which 165 lakh quintals are produced through government system and the production through cooperatives is less than 1 percent. BBSSL has been set up to change this ratio.

Q1) What is the main purpose of a Cooperative? 

The purpose of a cooperative is to realize the economic, cultural and social needs of the organization's members and its surrounding community. Cooperatives often have a strong commitment to their community and a focus on strengthening the community they exist in or serve.

Q2) What is PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme? 

The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), a Central Sector Scheme, aims at providing financial assistance to all cultivable landholding farmer families across the country, subject to certain exclusion criteria. Under the Scheme, an amount of Rs. 6000/- is transferred annually in three equal installments.

Source: New co-op society BBSSL to provide scientifically produced certified seeds to farmers | PIB