Why in News?

• To cater to the needs and aspirations of the youth, the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) has come up with a youth-friendly this scheme for attracting them to cooperative business ventures.
• The newly launched scheme would encourage cooperatives to venture into new and innovative areas.
• The scheme will be linked to Rs 1000 crore ‘Cooperative Start-up and Innovation Fund (CSIF)’ created by the NCDC.

Funding:

• The funding for the project will be up to 80% of the project cost for these special categories as against 70% for others.
• The scheme envisages 2% less than the applicable rate of interest on term loan for the project cost up to Rs 3 crore including 2 years moratorium on payment of principal.

Eligibility:

• It would have more incentives for cooperatives of North Eastern region, Aspirational Districts and cooperatives with women or SC or ST or PwD members.
• All types of cooperatives in operation for at least one year are eligible.

Sahakar 22:

• The NCDC, being the most preferred financial institution in the world of cooperatives, has embarked on Sahakar 22, a Mission for Doubling Farmers’ Income by 2022.
• To achieve the Mission of New India by 2022 in Cooperatives, through Doubling The Farmers Income, NCDC would launch a new Mission Mode activity,
• SAHKAR 22 would include:
• FOCUS 222: Converge NCDC assistance for Cooperatives in 222 Districts
• PACS HUB: Transform PACS and other Coops as APNA KISAN Resource Centres
• AENEC: ACT East and North East Coops
• CEMtC: Centres of Excellence to Market through Coops
• SAHAKAR PRAGYA:LaxmanraoInamdar National Academy for Cooperative Research & Development as Capacity Development base for SAHKAR 22

NCDC:

• Nodal Agency: Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare
• The NCDC has the unique distinction of being the sole statutory organisation functioning as an apex financial and developmental institution exclusively devoted to cooperative sector.
• It supports cooperatives in diverse fields apart from agriculture and allied sectors.
• It is an ISO 9001:2015 compliant organisation and has a distinctive edge of competitive financing.