Moving with a sense of urgency, the Ministry of cooperation has released a draft Data Collection Template for cooperatives across the states to fill up their details in a fixed format. There are two components of the draft database: static and dynamic.
The dynamic database components (financial details) need to be updated on an annual basis as on the closure of the financial year. The ministry may request the cooperatives to fill up the additional data for the previous two years (2019-20 and 2020-21).
Static part of data may include Identification of co-op, its field of operation, details of Board of Director, etc. The outline of the Dynamic blocks may include subjects like Employment and Labour Cost, Income and Expenditure, Asset and Liability, Products, Services and Schemes and Verification and Submission.
Writing a letter with the draft template, Secretary D K Singh has reminded co-ops that at present, there is no authentic database on cooperatives available with the Ministry of Cooperation. The Ministry of Cooperation has initiated a process for creating a National Database on Cooperatives.
The objective of developing the National Database on Cooperatives is to provide a single point of access to information on cooperatives of different sectors and develop a process for better understanding of cooperatives.
The proposed database may function as the main planning tool for Central Ministries, State Governments, Cooperative Federations, Cooperators and Sectoral Institutions like NABARD, etc. for the cooperative sector.
It is envisaged to facilitate policy making, improve governance and improve transparency. It may also help the cooperative sector for its better positioning in the business environment.
The proposed database intends to bring synergy among line ministries and state governments. The functioning and Workflow of the Database would be such that the system would be made available as a platform and can easily be adopted for various activities over a period of time.
The filing of data may be kept voluntary for the cooperatives. The platform would be available on 24*7 bases using the internet in a faster and secure environment adopting standard open technologies.
Central Ministries, NABARD, State Authorities, National Federations and other stakeholders may be provided access to data as per the Open Data Policy of Government of India. Quarterly bulletin may be issued giving significant insight to the data. A dashboard/ analytics of information would be made available to the public.
There shall be a dedicated help desk and toll-free number to assist Cooperatives and Federations. The Ministry is planning to hold a Workshop with State Registrar of Cooperative Societies (RCS), Cooperative Federations, NCCT, Training Institutes, NABARD for finalisation of Sector-Specific Fields of the proposed Database.
The Ministry may facilitate State Governments, Cooperative Federations to organise awareness campaigns about the importance of proposed National Database for policy making at grass root level and encourage them to enter requisite data at Cooperative level itself.
The database may be prepared in such a way that it may help the State Governments for registration of the new cooperatives. The portal may turn into a national portal of registration of cooperatives. The portal may be linked to the GEM (Government E Market) platform so that cooperatives can sell their products and services at that platform.