CHENNAI: Cooperation Minister K R Periyakaruppan on Tuesday informed the Assembly that Aadhaar and ration cards of 62 lakh members of cooperative societies in the state have not yet been linked, resulting in delays in the data purification process. He said, “Once the process is completed, elections to cooperative societies will be conducted as per the order of court.”
Data purification refers to the process of identifying and correcting errors, inconsistencies, or missing data within a dataset.
The state has nearly 18,500 cooperative societies, which fall under cooperation, dairy development, horticulture, handlooms and textiles, agriculture, and other sectors. Since 2022, the cooperative department has been carrying out a data purification exercise to weed out ineligible members from the voters’ list of cooperative societies.
A total of 64 lakh members from 18,500 cooperative societies across the state have been removed from the voters’ list. These members were allegedly added during the AIADMK government in violation of cooperative norms.
Through the cooperative elections, the board of directors, president, vice-president and others will be elected. Office-bearers of these societies wield considerable influence among their members and also help consolidate the party’s support base at the grassroots level. A total of 2.2 lakh office-bearers will be elected across all societies.
Periyakaruppan alleged that the enrolment of members and the conduct of elections to cooperative societies had not been carried out properly in the past. “Originally, the cooperative societies had 2.46 crore members. Among them, 23 lakh members were taken off on account of death, while the 64 lakh were removed for failing to meet cooperative membership norms.”
There are 1.59 crore eligible members in cooperative societies, of which 97.83 lakh have submitted their Aadhaar and ration cards, the minister added.
Periyakaruppan also highlighted that the average annual earnings of a central cooperative bank in Tamil Nadu are Rs 13 crore, compared to the national average of Rs 5 crore.
He further stated that gold loans to the tune of Rs 62,000 crore have been disbursed to 70.28 lakh beneficiaries during 2024-25.
FINANCIAL AID
Loans of Rs 5 lakh will be provided to landless poor women for purchasing agricultural land
Disbursal of agricultural loans through Primary Agricultural Credit Societies will be done on the same day of application
Distribution of various loans to the tune of Rs 1.1 lakh crore planned for this year
Loans up to Rs 3 lakh will be provided to 1,000 women from economically weaker sections to purchase e-autorickshaws
Safe deposit lockers will be set up at seven branches of central cooperative banks