The Co-operative Movement in Maharashtra

If one institution symbolises Maharashtra's rural economy, it is the co-operative — a voluntary, member-owned organisation run on the principle of "one member, one vote" for the mutual economic benefit of its members. Maharashtra is regarded as the cradle of India's co-operative movement, and it is a feature the state-board syllabus treats as distinctive to the state.

Co-operative sugar factories. The most celebrated example is the co-operative sugar factory. Asia's first co-operative sugar factory was established at Pravaranagar, in Ahmednagar district (now Ahilyanagar), in 1950, on the initiative of Vitthalrao Vikhe Patil with the economist D. R. Gadgil. In it, the sugarcane-growing farmers themselves became the shareholders of the factory that processed their cane. The model spread rapidly across the sugarcane belt of Western Maharashtra, and the state became a national leader in sugar production. These factories did far more than crush cane: they built schools, roads, hospitals and credit networks, and became powerful engines of rural development — and of rural political leadership.

Other co-operatives. The co-operative form spread well beyond sugar. Maharashtra has a large network of:

• Co-operative credit societies and co-operative/urban banks, which supply farm and small-business credit;
• Dairy co-operatives, which pool and market milk;
• Co-operative marketing and processing societies for cotton, oilseeds, fruit and other produce;
• Consumer and housing co-operatives, especially in the towns. …