Fair price shops may soon offer e-services.
Courtesy:
The Hindu - Fair price shops
could soon provide people with e-services. Under a plan, the shops will offer
services such as submission of applications for passports, payment of utility
bills and correction or update in Aadhaar data.
“Initially, our focus will be on the shops in rural areas,” says an official of the Cooperation Department, adding that land availability is a critical factor. A pilot project has been undertaken in Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts. The entire plan will be rolled out in six months.
Holding talks
The department is holding talks with India Post Payments Bank, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and private service providers. According to the Annual Report of the Department of Post for 2021-22, Tamil Nadu had 11,867 post offices, including 10,259 in rural areas. These post offices complement about 26,000 fair price shops operating in the villages. They can altogether cover 12,525 village panchayats easily. However, the official hastens to add that the talks are under way, and no decision has been taken yet.
The conventional Common Service Centres (CSCs) use individual websites or portals for payment of utility bills. But the proposed CSCs will use a common or unified portal to cut down on the waiting time and to do more transactions. Asked whether the proposed services will not duplicate the CSC programme, the official replies that even now, there are 4,480 CSCs being operated by the cooperative institutions. During 2022-23, these centres handled about 48.15 lakh transactions, netting ₹15.9 crore in income. The official stresses that “wherever necessary and feasible”, the fair price shops will provide the proposed services, which will be determined by the local needs. Also, “this will be a gap-filling exercise.”
Though the Union government has been pushing the idea of “transforming fair price shops” into centres for services and non-controlled products even while retaining their core functions, it is not providing any financial assistance directly for the purpose. However, to turn Primary Agricultural Cooperative Credit Societies into multi-service centres, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) is providing loans at 4%. For farm-related projects, an interest subvention of 3% is extended under the Agricultural Infrastructure Fund (AIF) of the Central government. But running CSCs alone will not come under this category.
Simultaneously, the Cooperation Department has taken steps to ensure that 40 district consumer cooperative wholesale stores increase their turnover through the sale of fast-moving consumer goods in a big way.
Though there are
tie-ups with individual firms, the authorities are negotiating with entities
that represent a basket of companies. During 2022-23, the wholesale stores
achieved a turnover of around ₹1,200 crore, “which can go up to ₹1,800 crore or
even ₹2,000 crore if the ongoing efforts fructify,” the official says. Courtesy: The
Hindu
