Cooperative Societies

About

A cooperative society is a voluntary, member-owned corporation designed to meet not unusual monetary, social, and cultural needs via self-assist, mutual assistance, and community welfare, distinct from profit-driven enterprises. 

Evolution of the Cooperative Movement

• Pre-Independence Era: 

• • • Informal cooperatives like Chit Funds and Nidhis existed; formalized through the Cooperative Credit Societies Act, 1904 and increased by the Cooperative Societies Act, 1912 to include marketing and artisan societies. 
    • Maclagan Committee (1914) endorsed a 3-tier cooperative banking system, shaping the structural framework for cooperative finance. 

• Post-Independence Era: 

• • • Strengthened through Five-Year Plans, established order of National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) (1963) and NABARD (1982) to enhance rural credit and cooperative improvement. 

• Legal and Constitutional Backing: 

• • • Key legislation encompassed the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act (MSCS) (1984 & 2023), National Policy on Cooperatives (2002), and the 97th Constitutional Amendment (2011) granting cooperatives constitutional popularity and safety. 

• Recent Developments: 

• • The Ministry of Cooperation, set up in 2021, emphasizes the government’s dedication to enhancing cooperative societies as key participants to monetary progress. 

Types of Cooperatives

• Consumers’ Cooperatives: Provide goods at fair prices by eliminating middlemen (e.g., Kendriya Bhandar). 
• Producers’ Cooperatives: Support small manufacturers with inputs like raw materials and equipment.  
• Marketing Cooperatives: Facilitate collective sale of produce to ensure higher costs (e.g., Amul). 
• Credit Cooperatives: Offer credit and banking services, including rural and urban cooperative banks. (e.g., Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs)). 
• Farming Cooperatives: Promote collective farming benefits for small landholders. (e.g., Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS)). 
• Housing Cooperatives: Enable less expensive housing via land pooling and shared development (e.g., Employees’ Housing Societies). 

Current Status of Cooperatives in India

• India’s Position: India accounts for 27% of world cooperatives, with 20% of its population as individuals, above the global average of 12%. 
• Top three sectors: Housing (24%), dairy (17.7%), and PACS (13%), accounting for over 54% of all the cooperatives within the country. 
• Leading States: Maharashtra (by myself accounts for over 25% of the country’s cooperatives), Gujarat, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. 

Significance of Cooperatives in Women Empowerment

• Pathway to Socio-Economic Empowerment: 

• • • Cooperatives offer rural women with low-threshold entry into income-producing activities, handy livelihood options, honest pricing, talent development, and inclusive governance, addressing financial exclusion and enhancing socio-economic resilience. 
    • Successful models like Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) (3.2 million casual women employees), Amul (3.6 million women dairy farmers), and Lijjat Papad (45,000+ domestic-based manufacturers) illustrate how cooperatives foster both financial self-reliance and social upliftment for women. 

• Inclusive Leadership and Historical Recognition: 

• • • Despite large roles in informal cooperatives like kuries and bhishis in Kerala and Maharashtra, women’s contributions continue to be under-diagnosed in formal cooperative narratives. 
    • Cooperatives can help combine women into cost chains as people, producers, and decision-makers, as a consequence ensuring equitable profit-sharing and access to markets. 

• Access to Services & Financial Inclusion: 

• • • Women’s cooperatives enhance access to credit, banking, insurance, housing, healthcare, and training, bridging provider supply gaps in underserved regions.  
    • They also construct monetary literacy and entrepreneurial capability, allowing women to manage financial savings, investments, and small firms efficiently. 

• Social Capital and Community Resilience: 

• • Cooperatives foster agreement, reciprocity, and shared obligation, supporting women build resilience against socio-economic challenges, in particular in rural or disaster-prone areas with confined institutional assistance.

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