Minister for Public Health Engineering and Cooperation, Government of Nagaland, N. Jacob Zhimomi, stated that unlike other parts of the country, cooperatives in the Northeast remain managerially and financially weak, relying heavily on government assistance, particularly funding from the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), to carry out various business activities.

Speaking at the national conference of Cooperation Ministers, chaired by Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, Zhimomi urged the Government of India to continue supporting NCDC-sponsored projects such as the Integrated Cooperative Development Project (ICDP), which he noted is highly popular among the farming community in the Northeast.

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According to a DIPR report, the Minister appreciated the Cooperation Ministry’s initiatives, especially the National Cooperative Database, for helping streamline and categorize cooperative societies across various parameters. This initiative, he said, has been instrumental in enabling the State Government to identify and cancel non-functioning cooperatives.

Highlighting a major challenge in the computerization of Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), Zhimomi pointed out that many PACS officials and secretaries struggle to fully understand and implement digitization processes. To address this, he recommended the deployment of Data Entry Operators at each PACS for a minimum of three years, giving societies adequate time to build internal capacity and eventually hire such personnel independently.

The Minister also raised concerns about the challenges faced by PACS in expanding their activities under various national initiatives such as the Jan Aushadhi Kendra, Common Service Centres, and Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samridhi Kendra.

The conference was attended by Cooperation Ministers from all States and Union Territories.

Later in the day, Minister Zhimomi participated in the ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam’ campaign by planting saplings at Nagaland Guest House, R.K. Puram, New Delhi. He was joined by Cooperation Secretary Orenthung Lotha, Joint Resident Commissioner Sharon Longchari, and officials and staff of Nagaland House, New Delhi.