ECONOMIC TRENDS

CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT

The co-operative movement is an important socio-economic interaction. This movement as it stands today has brought under its fold every village in the district. It has many aspects. It pervades in almost all the economic sectors of the district giving benefits to the agriculturists-small and big, to entrepreneurs in their small and large enterprises and even to those who are engaged in non-agro-industrial activities. It gives a good incentive to produce more and also provides just and profitable marketing of agricultural produce.

This movement if worked in the spirit and letter of the principles of co-operation by the workers who are directly or indirectly connected with it, through service and self-surrender, can play an unusually important role in elevating the social structure as a whole to a very high altitude. However much remains to be done in this behalf. The quantitative or organisational aspect of the co-operative movement in the district especially after the attainment of Independence has reached its climax. Besides agricultural credit, the co-operative activities are now extended to processing of agricultural products, dairying, farming, marketing, etc. In addition to the financial activities, a good deal of progress has also been made by agricultural credit societies in the sphere of services to agriculturists such as distribution of agricultural requisites (like seeds, manure, etc.), marketing of agricultural produce etc. The credit requirements are fulfilled by the Buldhana District Central Co-operative Bank, the Buldhana District Land Development Bank, the Buldhana District Industrial Co-operative Bank and Urban Banks. The other types of co-operative societies in the district are agricultural processing societies, industrial societies, forest labourers' societies, labour contract societies, co-operative farming societies, co-operative lift irrigation societies, dairy societies, produce and sales societies, housing societies, etc.

INDUSTRIALISATION UP TO 1910

Industrial activities in the district prior to 1910 were very in-significant. As pointed out earlier not less than 74 per cent of the population was engaged in agriculture. Though cotton was a great product of the district, there was not a single cotton mill. Ginning and pressing factories for processing the raw product for export were in existence. This was carried with the hand gins, hath-recha, which numbered 13,839 in 1897. But the number of gins showed a sharp decline, there being only 1,605 in 1908. The first cotton press was set up at Shegaon in 1868 by the Mofussil Company with a capital of Rs. 10 lakhs, and the same company opened another press at Khamgaon in 1872. The Cotton Press Company in 1871, and the New French Company in 1873, opened presses at Khamgaon, and Ralli Brothers did the same at Shegaon in 1873. The number of factories then remained unchanged till the end of 1886. In the next four years the number gradually increased to 12, and by 1900 it had reached 24. A great development took place in the next seven years, no less than 41 factories being erected.

The industrial survey which was conducted in 1908 pointed out that whatever rural industries then existed were fast losing ground. One of the reasons was that they could not compete with the machine made articles. The workers were found to be indebted and in the habit of buying their raw material on credit at rates of interest as high as 2 or 3 per cent per mensem. The silk industry then completely disappeared. In 1897 there were 1,339 cotton looms in the district. Their number also slowly decreased. Previously all the processes from the raw product to the finished article were performed in the district, but since the advent of the railway, thread had ceased to be spun locally and only the imported article was used. Khadi, passodi, dhoti, dupatta, saris, pagris, etc., were manufactured in the district. In 1908 there were 395 woollen, looms as against 732 in 1897. There was only one oil mill of which the motive power was steam. It was est-ablished at Shegaon in 1891-92. The local oil presses, tel-ghanis, were managed by telis. Such oil presses in 1897 numbered 867. This number also decreased to 257 in 1908.

Recent growth of Industries.-From the above discussion it can be seen that whatever industrial development had taken place in the district prior to 1910 was mainly in areas where industrial climate was more congenial and where economic facilities including transport, power, promotional capital, skilled workers, etc., were easily available. This holds good even in the present days and which accounts for intensive industrial activities in places like Khamgaon. Malkapur, Shegaon, etc. However, the nature and composition of industries even after fifty years did not change very widely so as to cover a variety of industrial sectors. The indus-trial development of the district still depends largely upon cotton and a limited quantity of oil seeds. The district does not possess minerals or forest resources to a remarkable extent. In 1961 there were 44 large-scale factories, 36 of which were of cotton and ginning and pressing. There were 86 small-scale registered factories in 1956, but the number decreased to 55 in 1961. In 1964, there were 49 cotton ginning and baling factories in the district and one each of basic chemicals and fertilizers, besides electrical machinery, tobacco and metal. There were 224 looms out of which 177 and 47 were hand operated and power operated, respectively, located at 5 centres during 1965-66. All these looms were established in Chikhli and Malkapur tahsils only. They produced 57.08 crores of metres of cloth with average daily employment of 232 workers. According to the data collected in the Annual Survey of Industries in 1966 the value of productive capital of the factories was roughly of the order of Rs. 1.88 crores and the value added by manufacture was of Rs. 39 lakhs in the dis-trict. Under the circumstances the development of industries in the district is limited to the growth of a few large scale and the rest to small scale industries and that too of an agro-industrial nature.

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