Overview

Challenges Before the Co-operative Sector — what this chapter covers

The co-operative movement in Maharashtra is one of the strongest in the country. From village credit societies and sugar factories to urban banks, housing societies, dairy and marketing societies, co-operatives touch the daily life of millions of people and have played a large part in the state's rural development. Yet, despite this impressive spread, the co-operative sector today faces a number of serious difficulties that hold back its growth and, in some cases, threaten its very character as a genuine people's organisation.

A co-operative is meant to be a voluntary, democratic, self-help organisation run by its members for their mutual benefit. When it works as intended, it is a powerful tool for the ordinary person. But in practice many societies have drifted away from this ideal — some have fallen under the control of politicians, some are run by untrained managements, many are short of capital, and a large number of their members take no active interest in the society at all. On top of these internal weaknesses, co-operatives must now survive in a competitive market dominated by well-run private and public companies, while also coping with heavy government control.

This chapter identifies the major challenges before the co-operative sector — such as political interference, lack of professional management, financial weakness, dormant members, competition, government over-regulation, and others — explains why each is a problem, and then discusses the measures that can be taken to overcome them so that the co-operative movement can once again grow strongly and stay true to its founding purpose.