Cooperative innovation and rural transformation: evidences from Indian Villages

• Autores: S. Rajendran
• Localización: La economía social, pilar de un nuevo modelo de desarrollo económico sostenible / CIRIEC España (dir. congr.), 2011, ISBN 9788495003850
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • For ushering economic development of the third world economies, there is a need to explore the community driven development programs which will help to attain the twin objectives of equitable distribution of income and sustainable development. Canvassing the successive model of cooperative development will prove the strength and success achieved by the cooperatives. In addition to the existing macro and micro level studies, the field based studies are undertaken which can act as a mechanism to bring the reality of the research work for further development. This study explores the intricacies of grassroots cooperatives in transforming the rural society.

    Three types of cooperatives - multi purpose women cooperatives (MPWCs), dairy cooperatives and fisherman cooperatives are taken to study by using the household data and focused group discussions. This paper is broadly divided into four sections – introduction, methodology, analysis and summary and conclusion. Simple statistical tools have been used for analyzing data. Variables like demographic profile, asset holding, income and the impact on the society have been considered.

    In the case of MPWCs, member households are better in terms of literacy, income earning capacity, social status, and economic security as compared to nonmembers. The second case of dairy cooperatives relates with cattle development programs. New technical inputs, scientific diary management practices and communication link between district union and the milk producers have resulted in increasing the economic efficiently. The third case pertaining to fisherman cooperatives on the rehabilitation of Tsunami affected fisherman community. The fisherman cooperatives, volunteers and officials have joined the hands to rehabilitate the Tsunami affected villages in the east coast of south India. A cross section of beneficiaries was taken to multi specialty hospitals for recanalization and NGOs and the government equally shared responsibilities. The psychologists and counsellors have been extended to school children as well. Collective action of their work transformed these regions. From the case studies, it is found that the cooperative initiatives have embarked in changing the socio - economic fabric of the marginalised fragile communities. The community involvement empowered economically and socially in the resource poor marginalised regions. It enables to conclude that the cooperative initiatives can do better for empowering the marginalised communities. However a few stumbling blocks like lack of coordination among members have been witnessed. This needs to be minimized for strengthening the cooperative initiatives for accelerating economic development.