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ECONOMIC TRENDS
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CO-OPERATIVE MOVMENT
Co-operative institutions are widely accepted as fostering democratic ideals and as a good substitute for individualism and competition. They are regarded as the best means of improving productivity, marketing and distribution, and a powerful factor in social regeneration. The co-operative movement has achieved a remarkable progress during the planning era. The number of co-operative societies increased from 266 at the beginning of the First Plan to 741 by June 1965, while the membership increased from 3,493 to 65,069 in the district. The following statement gives the statistics regarding the progress of the movement in the district from 1955 to 1965.
Year |
No. of Societies |
No. of members |
Share capital |
Working capital | |
|
(in Rs.) |
(in Rs.) |
1955-56 |
324 |
9,697 |
2,45,055 |
14,24,143 |
1960-61 |
566 |
42,511 |
26,51,688 |
1,71,11,020 |
1964-65 |
741 |
65,069 |
91,93,000 |
5,17,08,000 |
The development of Co-operation in the Second Plan was undertaken in the light of recommendations of the Rural Credit Survey Committee of the Reserve Bank of India, which emphasised the need of State partnership in the co-operative societies in order to strengthen the movement. The development programme mainly consisted of extension of agricultural credit, organisation of farming societies and grain depots, and amalgamation of small societies into bigger ones.
Since the National Development Council recommended organisation of small service co-operatives, the policy of large-sized multipurpose societies was discarded and it was decided to convert all large-sized societies into service co-operative societies. Accordingly 263 credit societies were converted into service co-operatives.
The Third Plan aimed at strengthening the co-operative movement and stressed upon extension of agricultural credit, development of co-operative marketing and organisation of farming societies. The Plan provided an amount of Rs. 19.77 lakhs for district level schemes against which Rs. 14.65 lakhs were actually spent during the plan. By the end of June 1965 there were 370 service co-operatives, 10 large-sized societies and 20 multipurpose societies functioning in the district. In addition, the District Central Co-operative Bank and the District Land Development Bank were functioning as central financing agencies. The co-operative movement also made some progress in the field of joint farming.
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