Co-Operatives in India: History, Problems and Reforms

In many countries, co-operatives started out as a means of ensuring advantages for poorly-equipped citizens who were unable to achieve these advantages by their own individual resources. In India, co-operatives - as instruments of economic development of the disadvantaged, particularly in the rural areas - received considerable emphasis through the country's successive Five Year Plans. India recognized that a village panchayat (council), a village co-operative, and a village school were the trinity of institutions on which a self-reliant and a just economic and social order was to be built. The non-exploitative character of co-operatives, the voluntary nature of their membership, the principle of 'one-man, one-vote, ' the decentralized decision-making, and the self-imposed curbs on profits eminently qualified them as instruments of development, combining the advantages of private ownership with public good. This book provides a comprehensive account of the historical evolution of co-operatives in India. It examines their problems, the policy measures that strengthened them, and their role in the changed scenario in the context of liberalization, privatization, and globalization