COLLECTIVE ENTERPRISE – INDIA'S CO-OPERATIVES
The theme for the BCA Referencer 2018-19 is ‘India’s Co-operatives’. The co-operative organisations in India consciously work towards putting the people at the centre of their business and not capital. We have highlighted some of the great Indian co-operative bodies in this Referencer to motivate us to follow a more inclusive path in our personal and professional life.
Co-operatives come in many sizes ranging from humble store-fronts to large Fortune 500 companies. Co-operatives are organisations of the workers and for the workers. They are owned and democratically controlled by their members and not by outside investors.
Co-operatives are motivated not by profit but by service, to meet their members’ needs. In fact, the main difference between Co-operatives and other establishments is that Co-operatives are enterprises that put people at the centre of their business and not capital.
The history of co-operatives in India goes back to the enactment of Co-operative Credit Societies Act, 1904. However, India had an informal co-operative system depending on the needs of the people long before the law was set.
Village communities collectively creating permanent assets like village tanks pooling of resources like food grains after harvest to lend to needy members of the group before the next harvest, or collecting small contributions in cash at regular intervals to lend to members of the group such as chit funds, etc. were to be found.
The co-operative movement in India owes its origin to agriculture and allied sectors. Towards the end of the 19th century, the problems of rural indebtedness and the consequent conditions of farmers created an environment for the chit funds and co-operative societies. The farmers generally found the co-operative movement an attractive mechanism for pooling their meagre resources for solving common problems relating to credit, supplies of inputs and marketing of agricultural produce.
The experience gained in the working of co-operatives led to the enactment of Co-operative Credit Societies Act, 1904. After India attained Independence, co-operatives assumed a great significance in poverty removal and faster socio-economic growth.
During 1960s, efforts were made to consolidate the co-operative societies by their re-organisation. Consequently, the number of primary agricultural co-operative credit societies was reduced from around two lakh to 92,000.
The co-operative sector has been playing a distinct and significant role in the country’s process of socio-economic development. There has been a substantial growth of this sector in diverse areas of the economy during the past few decades. The number of all types of co-operatives increased from 1.81 lakh in 1950-51 to 4.53 lakh in 1996-97. The total membership of co-operative societies increased from 1.55 crore to 20.45 crore during the same period. Co-operatives, in all spheres, today cover approximately 99% of Indian villages and 71% of total rural households in our country.
Co-operatives are powerful reminders of the many positive achievements that can be harnessed through the power of collective enterprise focused on the greater good.
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