A. According to economic historian, Charles Guide "Cooperation is self-help and each for all (mutual-aid)". Self-help means the pride of supplying one's own needs by one's own resources, of being one's own merchant banker, money lender and employer. "Each for all" means to seek liberation, not only for oneself but for and through others”.

The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), at its Manchester Congress held in September, 1995 adopted a Statement on Cooperative Identity. The Statement included the definition of Cooperatives, a list of "Cooperative Values and a set of "Cooperative Principles”.

According to ICA, "a cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common, economic, social and cultural/needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically
- controlled enterprise"
Cooperative-Values
Self-help
Self-responsibility
Democracy
Equality
Equity
Solidarity

A. Every individual has certain needs. Individuals with common needs can come together to fulfil those common needs by organising themselves into a cooperative so as to provide to themselves the required services for the satisfaction of those needs.

A. During the British Rule in India, Nicholson a British Officer in India suggested `Find Raiffersen in India', i.e. introduce Raiffersen model of German agricultural credit Cooperatives in India. As a follow-up of that recommendation, the first Cooperative Society Act of 1904 was enacted to enable formation of "agricultural credit cooperatives" in villages in India under Government sponsorship. With the enactment of 1904 Act, Cooperatives were to get a direct legal identity as every agricultural Cooperative was to be registered under that Act only. The 1904 Cooperative Societies Act, was repealed by 1912 Cooperative Societies Act which provided for formation of Cooperative societies other than credit. Under 1919 Administrative Reforms, Cooperatives was made a provincial subject making each province responsible for Cooperative development.

In 1942, the Government of India enacted the Multi-Unit Cooperative Societies Act, 1942 with an object to cover societies whose operations are extended to more than one state. Armed with an experience of 42 years in the working of Multi Unit Cooperative Societies and the Multi-Unit Cooperative Societies Act, 1942, the Central Government enacted a comprehensive Act known as Multi State Cooperative Societies Act, 1984, repealing the Act of 1942.

Based on the recommendation of the Mirdha Committee and the "Model Cooperative Societies Act" this Government of India enacted the Multi State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002 which provided for democratic and autonomous working of the Cooperatives. The Multi State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002 came into force with effect from August 19, 2002.

Q. Which are the institutions working for the development of cooperative movement in India?

A. National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI) and National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) are the important agencies working for promotion of cooperative movement in India. NCDC has also sponsored number of schemes in J&K like Integerated Cooperative Development Project in Anantnag And Kathua districts.

A. Under the J & K Cooperatives Societies Act of 1989 registration is done only of those cooperatives societes whose area of activity is primarily poultry, hatchery and dairy.
Under another legislation namely the J & K Self Reliant Act of 1999, cooperatives can also be registered and there is no restriction as to the area of the activity to be carried out.

A. Primarily a cooperative society registered under under the J & K Cooperatives Societies Act of 1989 is eligible for the government equity whereas the cooperative registered under the J & K Self Reliant Act of 1999 is not. Besides this , the former has the facility of the departmental audit and arbitration of disputes by the various officers/ courts of Cooperative Department and the latter has to get the accounts audited by charter Accountant and has to appoint a arbitral tribunal of its own.

A. See Check List.

• In this era of liberalization, when the role of public sector is shrinking and the private sector, which is taking over most of the economic areas, has yet to acquire a human face, the Cooperatives have a redefined role in the resurgence of Indian economy. These cooperatives are means to make the common people self reliant . The under privileged or those with meager resources , who can come together to fulfill their economic needs by way of forming the cooperatives whereby they can collectively work for the benefit of all of them. The most prominent example is of milk producers of Kaira district of Gujarat who organized themselves into Dairy cooperatives and saved themselves from the exploitation of the middle man by getting the remunerative price for the milk produced by them. Today they have recognized themselves all over the world under the Brand name AMUL and are competing in the Private sector.
• Every member of the cooperative has equal right to vote i.e.one vote irrespective of the shares held by him.
• Since the cooperatives are democratic organizations, every member has equal right and opportunity to be the member of the Board of Director of the Cooperative.
• Members are eligible for the bonus on the basis of the business done by them with the cooperative in addition to the dividend receivable by them according to the shares held by them. this is provided to encourage member participation.
• Provisions are there in both the Acts namely the J & K Cooperatives Societies Act of 1989 and the J & K Self Reliant Act of 1999, where by government can by notification exempt cooperatives from various fees, taxes, etc.
• Presently the housing cooperative Societies registered under the J&K Cooperatives Societies Act of 1989 are exempted from the court fee prescribed for the registration of the documents relating to the immovable property.

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A. There are number of success stories in cooperatives all around the
Country. To quote couple pf them is as under:

About Warana Nagar: The Warana Co-operative Complex has become famous as one of the forerunner of successful integrated rural development resulting from Co-operative movement. The Warana Co-operative Sugar factory registered in 1955, has led this movement resulting in formation of over 25 successful co-operative societies today, like Warana Co-operative Sugar Factory Ltd., Warana Co-operative Milk Produce Processing Society Ltd., Warana Co-operative Bank. Warana region Co-operative Grahak Mandal, Warana Poultry Co-operative Society, Sahyadri Co-operative Poultry Society, Vishwanath Co-operative Poultry Society, Warana Worker Vividh Working Co-operative Society, Warana Agriculture Goods and Processing Society, Warana Cooperative Industrial Colony, Warana Women Cooperative Credit Society, Savitri Women Co-operative Industrial Society, Amrit Sevak Co-operative Society, Satyavathi Co-operative House Construction Society, Nivritti Co-operative Housing Society etc.

Total turnover of all these societies exceeds Rs.600 Crores. Most of these societies are distributed within 4 Km. radius with clear line of site.

About AMUL Story: The Amul story has its genesis in the exploitation of the milk producers at the hands of Mr. P.E.Polson to whom the milk was given at throw away prices by the producers, who would in turn supply it to Bombay Milk scheme . It was at the advise of S.Vallab Bhai Patel and Morarji Desai that villagers were organized into village cooperatives in 1946. In the beginning it was only 20 litres of milk collected per day from a handful of farmers at only 2 Cooperative societies. By the end of 1948, 432 farmers had joined the village societies and the Milk handling capacity increased to 5000 litres per day. With the help of UNICEF, Govt. of New Zealand under Colombo plan and Tech. Aid of FAO, the plant for processing milk powder and Butter was established in 1955. Later on, in 1958 sweet condensed Milk, Dried baby food and cheese was also produced from buffalo milk on commercial scale. In 1975, the Dairy capacity was increased to 7.5 lacs lts of milk handling per day. From two village cooperative societies and a handful of farmers in 1948, the Kaira District Milk Union with its product brand named “Amul” has now 1026 primary District Cooperatives and 577,728 members affiliated to it.

Q. How does a cooperative society in J&K differ from a company?

A. Broad differences between a cooperative Society and a company are: