Expansion of cooperative societies

• India hosts 8.48 lakh cooperative societies as per the National Cooperative Database (NCD), covering nearly 98% of rural India and ~32 crore members across 30 sectors.
• The Ministry of Cooperation (created 6 July 2021) drives the "Sahakar-se-Samriddhi" vision through computerization, new society formation, and a dedicated university.
• A flagship Centrally Sponsored Scheme is computerizing PACS to ERP-based common software linked to NABARD via StCBs/DCCBs.
• Critical for GS-II (governance/federalism) and GS-III (agri-credit, rural economy).