Q.Define a service co-operative society and state any four of its features.

This asks for a clear definition first, followed by a short list of features — the standard 'define + list' pattern.

A service co-operative society is a voluntary association of persons, usually of a village, registered under the co-operative law, formed to provide its members essential services — credit, farm inputs, consumer goods, storage, and marketing — on fair terms, with service (not profit) as its main aim.

Definition. A service co-operative society is a voluntary association of persons — most commonly the residents of a village or a small rural locality — that is registered under the co-operative law (in Maharashtra, the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960) and is formed to provide its members the various essential services they need, such as credit, the supply of agricultural inputs and consumer goods, storage, and help in marketing their produce, on fair and reasonable terms. Its primary aim is to render service to its members, not to earn profit; hence it is also called a village multipurpose society.

Four features (any four of the following):

1. Voluntary association — a person of the locality joins and leaves of his own free will by buying at least one share and completing the formalities.
2. Service as the primary motive — the society exists to serve its members; surplus, if any, is a by-product used to strengthen the society and benefit members.
3. Democratic management ('one member, one vote') — every member has one equal vote regardless of shareholding, and members elect a Managing Committee to run the society.
4. Separate legal status and limited liability — once registered it is a body corporate distinct from its members, and a member's liability is limited to the face value of the shares he holds.
5. Multipurpose services — a single society provides several services (credit, inputs, consumer goods, storage, marketing) together.
6. Area-based membership and State supervision — membership is drawn from a defined village/locality, and the society works under the supervision of the co-operative department with compulsory audit.

A common slip is to describe only the credit function and forget that a service society is MULTIPURPOSE. Another is to list features of a company (voting by shares, profit motive) instead of co-operative features. Anchor every feature to the co-operative principles: voluntary, service-oriented, democratic, and member-owned.