Odisha’s cooperative sector is set for a wider rural footprint after the state announced that Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi will launch the mega membership campaign ‘Sambandha’ on Friday, September 25.
The Cooperation Department’s stated aim is to enrol at least one member from every rural household and bring credit, marketing, dairy and consumer services closer to the village.
A new mobile application will go live with the campaign to make digital membership registration simpler and more transparent. Officials say the app is meant to cut paperwork and give households a clearer route into Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS) and Large Area Multipurpose Cooperative Societies (LAMPCS).
The government will also launch a state-sector scheme, Promotion of Sugarcane Production, focused on the catchment of cooperative sugar mills. Priority in the first phase will be revival and operationalisation of the Badamba Cooperative Sugar Mill and strengthening of the Asika Cooperative Sugar Mill, with incentives for sugarcane growers in those areas. Badamba has been the subject of a separate revival push after years of closure.
In a first for Odisha’s cooperative history, farmer-members of PACS and LAMPCS will receive dividends. The announcement is being positioned as a shift from cooperatives as only credit windows to institutions that return surplus to members.
To support dairy households, new milk collection centres in PACS will be inaugurated virtually. The Chief Minister will also inaugurate Krushi Seva Kendras, consumer centres and Jan Seva Kendras. PACS computerisation under the National Level PACS Computerisation Software (NLPS) will be formally kick-started on the same day to improve transparency and day-to-day operations.
Foundation stones will be laid for Model Mandis and for projects under the World’s Largest Grain Storage Plan. Appointment letters will be distributed to newly selected Cooperative Inspectors and candidates of the Odisha State Warehousing Corporation (OSWC).
Taken together, the package links membership expansion with sugarcane revival, first-time dividends, digital registration and village-level service points. If enrolment matches the “one household, one member” target, the cooperative network would become a thicker last-mile layer for farm credit, produce handling and rural services across Odisha.
