a separate ‘Ministry of Co-operation’ has been created by the Central Government for realizing the vision of ‘Sahkar se Samriddhi’ (Prosperity through Cooperation) and to give a new push to the cooperative movement.
- The Government has signaled its deep commitment to community based developmental partnership. It also fulfils the budget announcement made by the Finance Minister in 2021.
Key Points
- Significance of Ministry of Co-operation:
- It will provide a separate administrative, legal and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movement in the country.
- It will help deepen Co-operatives as a true people based movement reaching upto the grassroots.
- It will work to streamline processes for ‘Ease of doing business’ for co-operatives and enable development of Multi-State Co-operatives (MSCS).
- Co-operative Movement in Post-Independence Era:
- After independence, cooperatives became an integral part of Five-Year Plans.
- In 1958, the National Development Council (NDC) had recommended a national policy on cooperatives and also for training of personnel and setting up of Co-operative Marketing Societies.
- National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), a statutory corporation, was set up under National Cooperative Development Corporation Act, 1962.
- In 1984, Parliament of India enacted the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act to remove the plethora of different laws governing the same types of societies.
- The Government of India announced a National Policy on Co-operatives in 2002.
- Importance of Cooperatives:
- It provides agricultural credits and funds where state and private sectors have not been able to do very much.
- It provides strategic inputs for the agricultural-sector; consumer societies meet their consumption requirements at concessional rates.
- It is an organization for the poor who wish to solve their problems collectively.
- It softens the class conflicts and reduces the social cleavages.
- It reduces the bureaucratic evils and follies of political factions;
- It overcomes the constraints of agricultural development;
- It creates a conducive environment for small and cottage industries.
- Challenges:
- Mismanagement and Manipulation:
- A hugely large membership turns out to be mismanaged unless some secure methods are employed to manage such co-operatives.
- In the elections to the governing bodies, money became such a powerful tool that the top posts of chairman and vice-chairman usually went to the richest farmers who manipulated the organization for their benefits.
- Lack of Awareness:
- People are not well informed about the objectives of the Movement, rules and regulations of co-operative institutions.
- Restricted Coverage:
- Most of these societies are confined to a few members and their operations extended to only one or two villages.
- Functional Weakness:
- The Co-operative Movement has suffered from inadequacy of trained personnel.
- Mismanagement and Manipulation: