Q.State any four features of a processing co-operative society.

Its features combine the general co-operative features with those arising from running a processing plant owned by producers.

Underlying all of them is that a member is at once supplier, owner and beneficiary.

Four important features of a processing co-operative society are:

1. Voluntary membership of producers. Membership is open and voluntary, and its members are the producers of the raw material (cane-growers, milk producers, etc.) who are simultaneously suppliers, owners and beneficiaries.

2. Object of processing raw produce. Its central purpose is to convert members' raw produce into finished goods and market them — the feature that distinguishes it from credit, consumers' or housing societies.

3. Democratic management — 'one member, one vote'. It is run by a committee elected by the general body, with every member having a single vote regardless of shares held or produce supplied.

4. Large capital requirement. A processing plant needs heavy investment, so the society relies not only on members' share capital but also on loans and share capital from the government and co-operative financing institutions.

(Other acceptable features: registration under the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960 giving it body-corporate status; a service/mutual-benefit motive; distribution of surplus back to members as a better price; and government supervision and audit.)