Finance
On Friday, the Odisha government launched an IT skill enhancement training program for 5,422 officers of Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS) and Large Area Multi-Purpose Societies (LAMPS), taking a significant step toward making the state’s cooperative sector more technology-driven, transparent, and efficient.
Pradeep Bal Samanta, Minister of Cooperation, Handloom, Textiles, and Handicrafts, formally launched the program at Lokseva Bhawan’s State Convention Center. PACS and LAMPS personnel from around the state attended the inaugural event online from 540 Odisha Knowledge Corporation Limited (OKCL)-authorized learning centers (ALCs).
OKCL is implementing the training program in partnership with the Cooperation Department. It will cover two officers from each of Odisha’s 2,711 PACS and LAMPs. The registration process for the program is already complete.
The program aims to increase cooperative institutions’ digital capacities by educating officials with fundamental computer knowledge, digital work processes, and hands-on experience with IT technologies. The project is expected to improve the speed, transparency, and efficiency with which PACS and LAMPS operate on a daily basis.
The OS-CIT curriculum also contains a dedicated subject on the National Level PACS Software (NLPS)/Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, which allows officers to gain an understanding of the digital platform that will be used by PACS in the future.
The initiative comes amid the Cooperation Department’s efforts to digitally transform PACS through NLPS/ERP, computerise the offices of the Registrar of Cooperative Societies and digitise records maintained by cooperative institutions.
According to officials, the large-scale digital skill enhancement program, which includes 5,422 officers from 2,711 PACS and LAMPS, is the first of its kind in the country. The successful implementation of the program in Odisha could serve as a model for similar digital capacity-building programs in other states.
The inauguration program was attended by Rajesh Prabhakar Patil, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Cooperation Department, Manish Agrawal, Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Bhaktabandhu Sahu, OKCL Managing Director, Manoranjan Puthal, and top officials from other departments.
The participants emphasized the initiative’s broader goal of transitioning “from technology to skill, from skill to empowerment, and from empowered cooperatives to empowered farmers.”
