Thrust on social, economic uplift of communities

“Alonewe can do so little; together we can do so much.” This is so true of cooperative societies, particularly in respect of the marginalised sections and disempowered women, more so in rural India. The legendary Henry Ford’s quote that, “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success,” applies to co-operatives or self-help groups in so much as it drives growth of small, medium to multinational corporations.

Recognising the growing need for collective organisation of the unorganised masses hitherto, the United Nations Organisations has even designated 2025 as the International Year of Cooperatives. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the given the honour to unveil a commemorative postal stamp on Tuesday. In his exalted speech, the PM spoke of “Sahkar Se Samriddhi” that is paving the way for prosperity of villages, women, and farmers.

After 75 years of independence, there is a marked interest in revival of India’s cooperative movement. The Narendra Modi government just set itself the ambitious goal of ensuring that all village panchayats in the India have one or more cooperative societies in the next three years. This is a huge task. It will require facilitation of over 2 lakh new Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS).

The PM announced their decision to introduce a new cooperative policy next year to enable the co-operatives to go global. He even vowed that a cooperative university to train and technologically upskill human resources in the sector. The occasion was the inauguration of the Global Cooperative Conference being held for first time in India.

That the NDA government attaches significant importance to the development of co-operatives is evident in keeping the portfolio under the care of Union Home Minister Amit Shah himself. The establishment of the Ministry of Cooperation on July 6, 2021, underscores NDA commitment to the cooperative sector.

Why are co-operatives so important for rural India? The movement in India draws inspiration from the ancient Indian ethos of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” (world is one family). A co-operative distinguishes itself from a business in that they are member-owned enterprises, which prioritise shared economic, social, and cultural objectives above profit. Through them, marginalised as well as remote communities get to access resources, secure livelihoods, and participate in the economy. For instance, while producers’ cooperatives help farmers overcome the menace of middlemen, consumers’ cooperatives (Kendriya Bhandar and Apna Bazar) directly source from producers and benefit members or the public at reasonable prices.

Rural economies are often beset by issues such as erratic or excess rainfall, poor or loss of crop yields, dependence on usurious moneylenders. Entire economies move around agriculture activity and are impacted by their prosperity or poverty. And, hence, the governments’ efforts for ushering cooperative movements to provide alternative sources of income to farmers and other rural communities. The Cooperative Societies Acts in 1904, 1914, 1919, 1942, 1982, 1984, 2002, 2021 and some other enabling Acts for NCDC, NABARD, expanded the scope of activities to marketing societies, artisans, rural credit, and a three-tier cooperative banking system at Centre, State and district levels.

A pivotal contribution of these societies has been greater inclusion of women in nation’s economic activity. The PM went so far as to say, “In India, we are in an era of women-led development. To enhance women’s role in cooperatives, the BJP-led Central government has amended the Multi-State Cooperative Society Act to mandate the inclusion of women directors in cooperative management.” Hope, the NDA government doubles down on its efforts to meet its ambitious goals. The government needs to ramp monitoring of internal governance of co-operatives to avoid crises such as recurrence of widespread failures of urban co-operative banks.