Critical Study of Agricultural Cooperatives and Informal Farmers Cooperative Movement in India- Study Report

Abstract

India is primarily an agricultural country. More than 70% of its population is dependent on agriculture. It provides direct employment to about 64% of working people in the country, contributes about 26% of gross domestic product and constitutes a sizeable share in India’s exports. Being the largest source of employment and income to millions of people, it provides a vast market for our industrial products. It is because of this paramount significance of agriculture in India’s economy that this sector has been, and continues to be, accorded a pride of place in India’s plans for overall development. For agricultural and rural development in India, Cooperative Movement has played a very significant and crucial role since it’s inception in the first decade of the 20th Century. Initially, the movement was not a result of spontaneous growth but was the outcome of the policy of the British Government. In 1878, when the farmers in Bombay Daccan revolted against the exploitation of moneylenders, the government was forced to find out some kind of an institutional alternative to the money lending class. Sir Fredrick Nicholson, an ICS Officer was sent to Germany to study the rise of agricultural credit cooperative moment there. He was so impressed with the achievements of the agricultural cooperative societies in Germany that he returned with the message “Find Out Raiffeisen” in Indian villages. Sir Nicholson recommended starting of Credit Cooperative Societies in Indian villages. It was how cooperative movement started with the Rural Credit Cooperatives in India. The first cooperative legislation that was subsequently enacted in 1904 was essentially concerned with the Agricultural Cooperative Societies.