The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the following proposals which were briefed to media by the Union Minister Bhupender Yadav, Ministry of Labour & Employment (MoLE) in New Delhi, Delhi:
i.Setting up of three national-level multi-state cooperative societies for three different sectors – export, seeds and organic products – under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) Act, 2002.
ii.Rs 2,600 cr scheme to promote Rupay debit cards, low-value UPI transactions
iii.Renaming of National Centre for Drinking Water, Sanitation & Quality at Joka, Kolkata SPM-NIWAS
3 new multi-state cooperative societies under MSCS Act 2002:
Cabinet approves setting up of a national level Multi-state cooperative export society under MSCS Act, 2002
The Union Cabinet has approved setting up of National Level multistate cooperative export society under the Multi State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) Act, 2002 that will act as an umbrella organisation for carrying out and promoting exports.
- It will be set up with the support from relevant Ministries especially Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) through their export related policies, schemes & agencies.
Key Points:
i.The society will follow the ‘Whole of Government Approach’ for undertaking exports of all goods and services produced by cooperatives and related entities.
ii.It will help cooperatives in getting benefits of various export related schemes and policies of different ministries of Government of India.
This will also help in achieving the goal of ‘Sahakar-se-Samriddhi’ as members will get better prices through export of their goods and services and also by dividend distributed out of the surplus generated by the society.
- It will also promote ‘Make in India’.
iii.Higher exports through the proposed society will increase production of goods and services by the cooperatives resulting more employment in the cooperative sector.
It should be noted that cooperatives societies including primary societies, district, state and national level federations, MSCS and Farmers Producer Organizations (FPOs) can become the Members of the proposed scociety . All these cooperatives will have their elected representatives on the Board of the society as per its bye-laws.
Setting up of Multi-State Cooperative Seed Society & Multi-State Cooperative Organic Society
The Union Cabinet also approved setting up of a national level multi-state cooperative seed society under MSCS Act, 2002.
- It will act as an apex organisation for production, procurement, processing, branding, labelling, packaging, storage, marketing and distribution of quality seeds.
Key Points:
i.It will also promote strategic research and development and also develop a system for preservation and promotion of indigenous natural seeds.
ii.It will enhance seed replacement rate (SRR) and variety replacement rate (VRR) for reducing the yield gaps and enhancing productivity.
The Cabinet also approved setting up of a national level multi-state cooperative organic society under MSCS Act, 2002 that will act as an umbrella organisation for aggregation, procurement, certification, testing, branding and marketing of organic products.
Cabinet approves Rs 2,600 cr scheme to promote Rupay debit cards, low value UPI transactions
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) headed by PM Narendra Modi approved Rs 2,600-crore incentive scheme to promote Rupay debit card and low-value BHIM-UPI (Bharat Interface for Money – Unified Payments Interface) transactions (person-to-merchant) in FY23.
- These incentives will be given on the use of Rupay debit cards and BHIM UPI.
- It will benefit MSME (Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises) sector, unorganized sector, and farmers.
Key Points:
i.Under this scheme banks will be provided financial incentives for promoting Point of Sale (PoS) and e-commerce transactions using RuPay and UPI in FY23.
ii.The scheme will also promote UPI Lite and UPI123PAY as economical and user-friendly digital payments on the lines of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas.
iii.UPI has achieved a record of 782.9 crore digital payment transactions with a value of Rs 12.82 lakh crore in the month of December 2022.
Cabinet approves renaming of National Centre for Drinking Water, Sanitation & Quality at Joka, Kolkata SPM-NIWAS
The Union Cabinet has also given its ex post facto approval for renaming of National Centre for Drinking Water, Sanitation and Quality, Joka, Kolkata in West Bengal as ‘Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee National Institute of Water and Sanitation (SPM-NIWAS)’.
- The Institute has been set up on 8.72 acres of land in Joka, Kolkata, West Bengal was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December 2022.
Key Points:
i. SPM-NIWAS is a premier institute to develop capacities in states/UTs (Union Territories)regarding public health engineering, drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene through training programs.
ii.These programs will cover front-line workforce engaged in implementation of the Swachh Bharat Mission(SBM) and Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), and representatives of local bodies, both rural and urban.
iii.To facilitate the training, working and miniature models of Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) technologies are also installed at the institute.
iv.Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee is an eminent scholar and academician and the youngest Vice Chancellor of University of Calcutta.
Recent Related News:
i.Union Cabinet approved the revision of the pension of Armed Forces pensioners and family pensioners under the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme, effective July 1, 2019, at an annual additional expenditure of Rs. 8,450 crores and arrears of Rs. 23,638 crores.
ii.As per Central Government, to procure copra and dehusked coconut under the Price Support Scheme (PSS), the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd. (NAFED) and the National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation (NCCF) would continue to serve as Central Nodal Agencies (CNAs).
About the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI):
Union Minister – Piyush Goyal (Rajya Sabha – Maharashtra)
Ministers of State (MoS) – Anupriya Patel; Som Parkash
