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Context for Cooperatives in Rural India Daniel Thorner

Experience in many countries has shown that cooperatives can serve as a means by which peasant cultivators can help each other to improve their position.

But the success of rural cooperatives presupposes a modicum of social equality, political democracy and economic viability among the villagers.

These preconditions have not been present in tillage India and are still not present today. If the cooperative movement in India is to get anywhere two things must happen first :

(1) the power of the village oligarchs —the leading people, the mukhyestaru, to use the Kannada expression—must he curtailed; and'

(2) the Government must become an instrument of the ordinary people, and must be considered as such by the ordinary people.

What is happening in India today is that the cooperatives are being asked to create their own pre­conditions to reconstruct village society so that the ordinary peasants can make, effective use of the cooperative method. This is too much to expect.

To rush ahead prematurely with cooperatives is to invite failure and to give the cooperatives a bad name,

A fuller version of this study will be published later this year by Etudes Rurales, the new journal of agrarian studies sponsored by the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etade. Vieme Section' Sciences Econamiques et Sociales. at the Sorbonne, of which Or Thorner is a director of Studies. Field notes on the functioning of the societies in all the States visited by the author will appear in the fuller version.

[Together with Mrs Alice Thorner, Dr Thorner is author of "Land and Labour in India", which has just been issued by Asia Publishing House.]

IN ORDER to find out how agr i -cu l tura l cooperatives were func-

tioning and were l ikely to function in the future I decided to go and see things for myself. Accordingly , between December 1958 and May 1959. I visited some 117 cooperatives scattered throughout most of the States of India.

The par t icu lar societies which I visi ted were not selected by me. Rather, they were selected by the local authorit ies, but in no random sense. Since I was interested in the prospects for successful cooperation, I asked the local people ( f rom the Cooperative Departments, in most cases) to take me to the i r best socie-ties. Since they would want to show me their best, there would be no h a r m in asking' them to do what they were, in any event, almost cer­t a in to do. Fur ther , the places in w h i c h I halted whi le on tour were, wherever possible, we l l -known for the i r achievements in the field of cooperation. Hence it was not by chance that my i t ine ra ry included Baroda, Salem, Kolhapur, N i l g i r i s , Mandya, and Anakapal la . In th is w a y I saw not merely good coope­ra t ive societies, but the best of the best. These societies, however, did not constitute a proper ly d rawn

sample, whether of al l cooperatives or of good cooperatives. They are merely cases or i l lus t ra t ions which happened to be brought to my at ten­t ion when I asked for the best.

As i t happened, my f ie ld tour f o l ­lowed close upon an impor tan t shift in Governmental policy w i t h regard to cooperatives. A decision had jus t been taken at the highest level to go no fur ther w i t h the integrated credit scheme wh ich had been taken up at the recommendation of the Reserve Bank, As against the Re­serve Rank's larger-sized societies, the new policy emphasised single village, multi-purpose service co­operatives. These, it was stated, ought to serve as a t rans i t ion to co­operative j o i n t f a rming . Since the implementat ion of the Reserve Bank programme had begun only three years earlier, the reversal had an upset t ing effect on many co opera-tors. On the other hand, the Gov­ernment 's unprecedented stress on cooperation as an ins t rument of development made the subject a l ive one wherever I went.

T H E L E A D I N G C O O P E R A T O R S

When I ar r ived at the office of a vi l lage cooperative society, the first persons who came to meet me, or

indeed were already wa i t ing , were usually the members of the manag­i n g committee. In discussion I t r ied to ascertain the social make-up of the vil lage and to f i nd out w h i c h groups were represented in the co­operative and which in the manag­ing committee. In quite a few places the people w h o m I met were anxi­ous to impress upon me the impor t ­ance of the heads of thei r coopera­tives. They took pride in t e l l i ng me that these cooperators were big men In trade, in Government contracts , in r ice-mi l l ing , in land-holding, and in local politics. In general, I found that the heads of cooperatives were the big people of the villages and tha t they had their fingers in many other pies as w e l l as cooperation.

For example, the leading figures of the mult i-purpose cooperative at Saadhi in Baroda D i s t r i c t of Guja­ra t are a l l landholders f rom the do­minant local communi ty , the Patels. They own enough land so tha t they do not have to work w i t h their own hands. They have managed to get around the land reform?, and some of them were g i v i n g out land on a 50-50 cropshare basis to the lesser folk of the vi l lage. Some of the lead­i n g f igures in the cooperative appear­ed to be lending money in formal ly

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on a pr iva te basis. The previous head of the cooperative had gone on to become the chai rman (sarpanch) of the vi l lage panchayat ( the "coun­c i l " o f the v i l l age) .

Power Concentration in Single Family

One of the outs tanding coopera­t ive Joint f a rms in Gu ja ra t is locat­ed at Rasulabad, 10 miles no r th of Baroda. I t seemed to be w e l l r u n and the benefits of the members i n ­cluded purchase of schoolbooks f o r the i r chi ldren. B u t i t was funct ion­i n g as a one-family show, operated mos t ly on f a m i l y land by one of the landlord famil ies of the vi l lage. Three brothers f r o m this single fa ­m i l y were serving respectively as the Chairman of the Managing Com­mit tee , the Managing Di rec tor and the F a r m Manager. More of the w o r k of the f a r m appeared to be done by hired labourers t han by the members themselves.

Sadoli in Kolhapur D i s t r i c t af­fords a different k i n d of i l lus t ra t ion of concentrated power of a single f ami ly . Seven brothers here consti­tu ted the vil lage's leading f a m i l y and wielded the greatest influence in the mult i -purpose cooperative. One brother was vil lage sarpanch, another was director of a l i f t i r r i g a ­t ion cooperative, whi le a t h i r d was director of a nearby cooperative sugarcane fac tory . In addi t ion to owning more land than any other f ami ly , the seven brothers also own­ed 5 mechanical vehicles ( t ractors , bulldozer, car, l o r r y ) . D u r i n g the busy season they employed more t han 50 labourers. In the Sadoli mult i-purpose cooperative, ha l f of the outstanding shor t - te rm loans (Rs. 95,000 out of a g rand to t a l of Rs. 191,000) had been made to only 11 members.

In Salem D i s t r i c t o f Madras, per­haps as celebrated as any in the Sta te fo r w o r k in cooperation, one f a m i l y has dominated the movement fo r a generation. In 1959 one mem­ber of t h a t f a m i l y was simultane­ously the president of no less than six cooperatives and the director of several others. The cooperative movement of the d is t r ic t seemed to be l i t t l e more than an extension of his personali ty.

W o r k Done by H i r e d Labour At a j o i n t cu l t iva t ion cooperative

in Coimbatore D i s t r i c t of Madras

only 3 out of 28 members actual ly went out and helped t i l l the society's fields. In another Joint cu l t iva t ion society in N o r t h Arco t , three-quar­ters of the members were absentees, and none of the f u l l members l i v i n g in the vi l lage ac tua l ly d id physical w o r k in the fields. In both cases the cooperatives served as a f o r m of organizat ion whereby the f u l l mem­bers could receive a id f r o m the State and yet get the i r w o r k done for them by the employment of hired labourers.

Nauranga in K a n p u r D i s t r i c t o f the U . P . is perhaps the best-known in N o r t h Ind i a o f the large-sized societies of the type recommended by the Reserve Bank . The society ap­pears, however, to be under the w i n g of the local landlord, the ex-zamin-dar, who used to hold not only Nauranga but several other villages as w e l l . He has been serving as a director of the K a n p u r D i s t r i c t Co­operative Federation. Peasant mem­bers of the new society assert tha t the b i g people, the ex-zamindars, get f i rs t preferent ia l t rea tment f rom the cooperative, whi le appl icat ion f rom the lesser fo lk are handled in d i l a to ry fashion.

Gliairman, Pate l and Sarpaach — A l l Three i n One

The Chai rman of a new, large -sized society in the Sehore area of Madhya Pradesh was simultaneously the vi l lage pate l (headman of the v i l lage) , the sarpanch (head of the panchayat) , and director of at least t w o other cooperative societies. He l ived in a splendid house and was one of the three largest cu l t iva tors in the vil lage, w i t h four f a r m ser­vants w o r k i n g f o r h i m fu l l - t ime al l year round.

In the Hyderabad D i s t r i c t of A n d h r a the president of a new large-sized society founded in 1956 was a m i l i t a r y contractor owning a mansion and a new car, wh i l e the secretary-treasurer was one of the argest landowners. S imi l a r ly ' at a nearby and h i g h l y reputed single -vi l lage p r i m a r y society, the presi­dent, in addi t ion to being the largest holder in the vi l lage, was also a P . W . D . (public works ) contractor.

Mysore furnishes the example par excellence of leading famil ies who completely control vi l lage affairs, i n ­c luding the cooperatives. These are the mnkhyes ta ru , the local " a l l - i n -

al ls ." To an extent perhaps unequal­led anywhere else in I n d i a they are at one and the same t i m e the p r i n ­c ipal landowners, chief traders, m a i n moneylenders, shopkeepers, and v i l lage officials. The mukhyes ta ru have generally opposed the fo rma­t i o n of cooperatives. Once these are established, however, they j o i n the societies to t ake them over fo r thei r own purposes.

M A S T E R S A N D S E R V A N T S

L e t us now take a closer look at the range of act iv i t ies of the bigger people who are so o f ten f o u n d at the he lm of the cooperatives. T h e i r holdings, as we have noted, are l i k e ­ly to be the largest, or a m o n g the largest, in their villages. These they can either cul t iva te d i rec t ly th rough hi red labourers, or they can give them out for others to cul t iva te on payment of rent in cash or in k i n d . In actual practice the bigger people often do both. They keep some of the i r land d i rec t ly in the i r own hands, and they give out the rest to others. To the extent t h a t land is given out, they are l i ke ly to be g i v i n g out the most. As such, they w ie ld great power. The l i t t l e people, des­perate to get land, cannot s i t as equals w i t h the impor t an t people who have significant amounts of land to give out. I t i s doubtful t h a t they can w o r k together on a cooperative basis.

Insofar as the large landlords are also b i g cul t ivators , they are the pr inc ipa l employers of ag r i cu l tu ra l labour. When the labourers are u t t e r l y landless, they are, w i t h r a re exceptions, not enrolled as members of the local cooperative. By con­t ras t , there are numerous cases in w h i c h the labourers o w n t i n y patches or take in bits of land on lease or cropshare. Some of these labourers m a y we l l have joined the cooperative. If so, there is almost cer ta in to be a wide gap between them and the top people by w h o m they are hired. The employer is the master, and his h i red labourer is the servant; in the languages of Ind i a there are no terms for d is t inguishing an em­ployer-employee relat ionship f r o m t h a t of master-and-servant.

The relat ions of master and ser­v a n t are typ ica l ly complex. The labourer or his fa ther m a y have bor­rowed money f r o m the master, ei ther in t ime of distress or f o r a major ceremony l ike marr iage . Or the

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labourer may simultaneously be t a k i n g some pieces of land f rom the master on cropshare (batal) . The masters may come from one caste and the labourers f rom another tha t ranks lower. The implications of caste differences and caste r ivalries have been so widely commented on that we w i l l not a t tempt to add any­th ing to tha t subject here.

We cannot overlook, however, the question of a t t i tude toward physical w o r k in the f ields. There is very l i t t l e belief in India in the d ign i ty of labour. For the most part , whoever can escape it considers manual labour an indigni ty. The surest way by which a fami ly whose fortunes have been improving can stake a c la im to higher standing in the village is for the members to abstain f rom manual labour. I t is safe to say that in most of India the distinc­t i on between those who work w i t h the i r own hands, and those who do not, cuts deep. It is idle to expect those who do not soil their hands, and their hired labourers who do, to w o r k together in the spir i t appro­priate to a cooperative. Not only may the masters not be prepared to "work together," they may s imply not be prepared to w o r k at a l l !

M O N E Y L E N D E R S I N T H E SOCIETIES

One cannot help but be impressed by the position occupied in the co­operatives by one or another type of person who lends money. The cul­t iva tor who also does some money-lending figures prominently in co­operatives in Baroda, Saurashtra, Hyderabad, and Rajasthan. The trader-cum-moneylender is found in societies in Saurashtra, Mysore, the Ni lg i r i s , Nellore, and Kashmir. The formidable combination of the cu l t i ­va t ing moneylender-cum-trader do­minates the scene in Mysore and coastal Andhra . I f the a i m o f the cooperative credit societies has been to free the cult ivators f rom the gr ip of the moneylenders, then the moneylenders do not belong in the societies, let alone in the leadership. How, then, have persons who lend money come to occupy so prominent a place in the cooperative move­ment?

Here we have to bear in mind tha t the need of the vil lagers to take loans is crucial and chronic. The bullock may die in the middle of the ploughing season; a son may be

seriously i l l ; in the period between one harvest and the next, the food-grains in the f ami ly jars may run out; etc. At such times the peasant must borrow and he cannot be choosy about rates of interest. He w i l l have to pay whatever is asked. Hence, the lending of money is a very paying proposition. Bigger peasants whose crops have done wel l may find themselves w i t h funds to spare. In such situations they may very wel l do a b i t of moneylending. Among the well-off peasants, includ­ing those who are members of co­operatives, the g rowth of money-lending may almost be termed a natural process.

Persons wel l supplied w i t h funds to lend are ipso facto impor tan t in the villages. I f , as we have seen above, they are also active in cu l t i ­vation or trade, they may be doubly important . As regards cooperatives, such persons may in i t i a l ly resist their formation. Once the societies are established, however, persons who lend may jo in the cooperatives, perhaps in order to get direct access to the society's funds. When an i m ­portant person in the village wants to jo in the cooperative, it is usually hard to keep h i m out.

We must also note that it may be Government policy to b r ing the moneylenders into the cooperatives. Perhaps in no area of India in the 1950's did cooperatives expand so rapidly and achieve such complete coverage as in Saurashtra. In case after case among the best coopera­tives, the leadership turns out to be the trader-moneylender.

S A H A K A R I O R S A R K A R I ?

In many parts of the country the role of Government in the coopera­tives is so great tha t the members consider the societies not as their own but as an instrument of the State. To them the cooperatives appear as a source f rom which they borrow Government funds. In Sehore Dis t r i c t of Madhya Pradesh the Chairman and Secretary stated that they fostered this impression because it helped to faci l i tate recoveries of loans. Similarly, in a well-reputed society near Tr ivandrum, the mem­bers were stated to believe tha t the loans they got f rom the society were sums f rom Government. Thei r te rm for a loan f rom the society is, in Malayalam, sarkar vaipa, which means Government loan.

The State in which these att i tudes and feelings are most pronounced Is Madras. There the hand of the Co­operative Department bureaucracy seems to be everywhere, in the per­son of officials on deputation to run the affairs of local societies. The members of one of the best coopera­tive agr icul tura l banks in Coimbatore Dis t r ic t , for example, consider that the sums they borrow from the society are Government loans. The borrower feels ("has tha t fear") tha t since the loan is from Government he must repay in t ime. The t e rm in Tami l for a loan f rom the coopera­t ive society is sarkar kadan (Govern­ment loan).

The societies in Madras appear to be bound down very closely by the Cooperative Department 's book of rules and regulations. The conse­quence not only in Madras but in other States as wel l , is an inelasti­c i ty tha t has been the curse of the movement. In the Ni lg i r i s , members of small and large societies feel that Government control is very r ig id . In bad seasons they cannot count on the Government-controlled socie­ties to see them through. Instead they must t u r n to the trader-money­lender, no matter how oppressive he may be; when they most need help, they get a k ind of "cooperation" from him. But in their hour of need wha t they get f rom the cooperative society is a form of "non-coope­ra t ion ."

P O L I T I C A L FORCES I N T H E COOPERATIVES

The impact of politics upon the co­operatives seems to be ge t t ing heavier and more direct. In several States the leadership of the coopera­tives is heavily sprinkled w i t h active politicians. In Kashmir, Mysore and coastal Andhra. for example, there are many M.L.As. (members of the legislative assemblies) in the top co­operative posts.

Persons who succeed in becoming elected to the legislative assemblies are usually, if they are villagers, f rom the important and best-off families. They tend to use the co­operatives as levers or weapons in jos t l ing for position w i t h their r ivals. Or they show their importance by the number of societies which they keep under their wings. In this con­nection i t has to be borne in mind that the people in power in the capi­tals of the various States are p re t ty much the same people in the seats of

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power in the villages, only occupying larger chairs. When the Govern­ment decides upon a policy of vigor­ous support to cooperatives, then the people in power b r ing in their friends and loyal pol i t ica l supporters to implement the policy. Thus under the Congress regime in Saurashtra in the early 1950's, Congress workers were encouraged to s t a r t coopera­tives. D u r i n g the Communist regime in Kerala, Communist workers were active in p romo t ing cooperatives.

There is a danger t ha t in this pro-cess the cooperatives may become pol i t ica l footballs. No ma t t e r how well a society may be run, if it is the other par ty ' s or the other faction's society, then a change in State regime may take the ground f rom under i ts feet, A dramatic i l lus t ra­t ion of this is afforded by the A n t h i -kad Toddy Tappers' Cooperative Society in T r i chu r (Cochin), Kera la State. Ea r ly in 1959 the local officers of the Kerala Cooperative Department were proud of the suc­cess of the society; vis i tors were s t ruck by the fact tha t .11 out of 12 of the directors of the society were themselves tappers who s t i l l climbed trees to b r ing down the toddy.

When the new ant i -communist regime in Kera la assumed power after the elections early in 1960, one of i t s first ma in decisions was to end the system whereby toddy shops were given on negotiated contracts to the toddy tappers' societies." So in t imate a relationship between pol i ­tics and cooperatives docs not augur wel l for the prospects of the move­ment.

RESERVE BANK'S ' ' INTEGRATED S C H E M E O F R U R A L C R E D I T "

The must elaborate plan ever de­vised for the development, of coupe-ratives in Ind ia was put fo rward at the end of 1954 under the auspices of the Reserve Bank. The basic fea­tures of this programme were spelled out in the General Report which con­sti tutes Volume I I of the Reserve Bank's A l l India Rural Credi t Sur­vey. Essentially, the Reserve Bank called for a more business-like approach to peasant f a rming . This was to be achieved by concentrat ing credit on the productive needs of f a r m business. The cooperatives

' T h e H i n d u . M a r c h 3. 1960; see also The Times of India . May 14, I960.

were to make advances to the cu l t i ­vators as producers of crops (not as owners of land) . The loans were to be given on the basis tha t a crop was anticipated, and the amounts of the loans were to be related to the esti­mated out lay for ra i s ing the crop. The recoveries were to be made, as and when the crop was sold, f r o m the proceeds of the sale.

The " in tegra ted" aspect of the Reserve Bank's " Integra ted Scheme of Rura l Credi t" is the effort to l ink credit and marke t ing . The credit cooperative was to finance its mem­bers on condition tha t the produce of the member is sold th rough the nearest m a r k e t i n g cooperative. One of these m a r k e t i n g societies was to serve a number of credit societies. The credit cooperatives were to arrange for collection and transport of the members' produce to the marke t ing centre. The sums due to the members for their produce were to be paid th rough the credit society, wh ich would f irst deduct fo r out­standing loans. In this w a y the inte­grated scheme was intended to en­sure recoveries of loans to members.

The scheme, of course, rests on the assumption that the members of the cooperatives produce crops p r i ­m a r i l y for sale. As i t happens, the main crops of Ind ia are food grains, most of w h i c h the peasant families do not sell but re ta in fo r their own consumption. A system such as the Reserve Bank proposed would w o r k best w i t h growers of perishable cash crops l ike sugarcane or potatoes which require heavy investment and must be sold quickly af ter each har­vest. Rut the areas under such ipecial items are l imi ted and they

can never displace food grains as the dominant crop of the country.

We may also note tha t the Reserve Bank's scheme did not face up square ly to the credit needs of the

The General Report, pp. 386. 433 and 452-53. For a comprehensive assessment of the Rura l Credit Survey, see our article, "The A l l -Ind ia Rura l Credi t Survey Viewed as a Scientific Enqu i ry , " publish­ed in The Economic Weekly Special Number June 1960, Vol . X I I . pp. 949-96:'. The ar t icle has been repr inted in Land and Labour in India , by Mrs . Al ice Thorner and myself, issued by Asia Publ ishing House, 1962.

"General Report , p. 454.

peasantry to car ry on their existence as social beings. F r o m t ime to t ime the peasantry must spend on marriages, education, illnesses, fune­rals, journeys, pilgrimages, etc. Ceremonies and festivals are either the most solemn occasions of l ife, or occasions for the greatest rejoicing. The peasantry can and w i l l do w i t h ­out neither. One of the main points made in the Rural Credi t Survey was tha t the borrowings of the peasants must be understood as an overall "balancing factor." Peasant fami­lies, the Survey Report observed, get accustomed to a certain level of l iv ing . They go on t r y i n g to l ive at tha t level whether or not in any given year thei r to ta l resources are sufficient. When they f a l l short, they borrow. Thei r loans are a "balancing factor," m a k i n g up the difference between their t o t a l current needs and their to ta l current re­sources,'

It is the s t rength of the money­lender tha t he is prepared, at heavy cost to the peasant, to play the role of overal l "balancing factor." On this crucial ground, the Reserve Bank's integrated scheme, by con­trast, offered h im no competi t ion. The Bank's scheme made ra ther vague and grudging allowance for "subsistence" needs in i ts system of crop loans: "Such needs w i l l be automat ica l ly covered if the quantum of crop loans at. so much per acre of the par t icular crop cul t iva ted is properly fixed for each area after t ak ing into account a l l relevant con­siderations ." General Report, p. 433) One can roughly allocate manure on a crop acreage basis, but it is not so easy to do so w i t h marriages! To be fair , the Reserve Rank did not real ly a t t empt to do so; but instead of t r y i n g to deal w i t h such problems, the Bank fobbed them off w i t h the suggestion that each credit cooperative should also spon­sor a "mutua l help" fund ("chit fund"i

In India, "chit funds" are known well only in the extreme South. There they are loosely organized, take many forms, and have a spotty record. ' The par t icular version that

'Survey Impor t , p 262 V. Krishnan, Indigenous Bank ing in South India (Bombay, Bombay State Cooperative Union. Publica­t ion No. 18, August . 1959), pp. 130-143.

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the Reserve B a n k has suggested is exceedingly complicated and no ind i ­ca t ion i s g iven t h a t i t has ever been t r i ed anywhere. Th i s seems surpris­ing , i n v iew o f the impor tance w h i c h the R u r a l Cred i t Survey has attached to credi t requirements for f a m i l y l i v i n g . Bor rowings to r " f ami ly expenditure" of a l l types, the Survey Repor t stated, many t imes overshadowed those for invest­ment or fo r cur ren t production pur­poses. (Survey Report , p. 402.) To have pu t f o r w a r d an in t r i ca te and untested scheme for dealing w i t h these p r ime needs was neither busi­ness-like nor responsible.

T H E I S S U E O F S I Z E When i t was put f o r w a r d in 1954-

55, the Reserve Bank 's " integrated scheme" was well-received. The Government of Ind i a accepted the main features of the programme and i t s implementa t ion f igured p romin ­ent ly in the Second Five Year Plan (1956-61). In the second ha l f of 1958 the scheme fe l l in to official disfavour, and the Government policy shifted to "service cooperatives." The dis­cussion of this change in policy has centred on the question of size, the Reserve Bank's "larger-sized' ' socie­ties (covering many villages) being contrasted unfavourably w i t h socie­ties l i m i t e d to a single v i l lage (or, at most, say three vi l lages) .

As we shall see, the question of size was not real ly the basic issue. B u t i t i s convenient t o take i t up first . The Reserve Bank called for "larger-sized" societies so tha t each could a f ford to have a trained, f u l l -t ime paid secretary. For this pur­pose it has been estimated tha t each society would have to make a m i n i ­m u m of at least Rs. 50.000 in loans per year. Judged by this c r i te r ion the t r ad i t iona l single-village p r i m a r y societies were, in most cases, too smal l . Unless each of the societies had a properly- t ra ined secretary, the Reserve Bank argued, they would not be viable. Fo l lowing the Reserve Bank 's recommendations, the various States formed thousands of larger-sized societies by mergers of a dozen or so of the older-type, single vil lage societies.

P r o m the t ime the Reserve B a n k s proposals appeared, however, there-were those w h o viewed w i t h regret the w a y the scheme gave up the single vi l lage as the basic un i t of r u r a l credit . In the i r eyes a peasant

cooperative did not have m u c h mean ' i n g unless the members k n e w each other w e l l and kept in personal touch. This could not be expected in a cooperative w h i c h covered a dozen or more villages. Rather such socie­ties wou ld tend to be not coopera­tives bu t r u r a l banks.

The Pr ime Minis ter , who had i n i ­t i a l l y welcomed the Reserve Bank proposals, announced in 1958 t h a t he had been mistaken. M r . N e h r u stated t h a t he no longer agreed w i t h the idea of subs t i tu t ing bigger coopera­tives for smaller ones. The bigger societies, controlled by an official, m i g h t do some good, bu t they would also do inf ini te h a r m in the sense tha t they would not teach people self-reliance. Rather, they wou ld en­courage the habit of looking to Gov­ernment for everything. The Reserve Bank recommendations, M r . Nehru lamented, had encouraged the tend­ency of Government officials to boss over the people. "We should t r y to get ou t of i t as qu ick ly as we can and a i m a t small cooperatives w i t h ­out official interference."

COOPERATIVES AND LAND REFORMS

When the A l l - I n d i a Congress Com­mit tee met a t Hyderabad in October, 1958, they adopted a resolution cal l­ing for doubling of India 's agr icu l ­t u r a l production in the next ten years.7 As m i g h t be expected, there Were differences of opinion as to wha t wou ld be required to reach so ambitious a target . An A g r i c u l t u r a l Product ion Sub-Committee was set up to make specific recommenda­tions. Meet ing in New Delhi , Nov­ember 6-7, 1058, the Committee drew up t w o paral le l and l inked three-year programmes, one involv­i n g land reforms, the other involving cooperatives.

Regarding land reform, the Com­mit tee recommended that compre­hensive, thoroughgoing legislat ion should be enacted in al l of the States by the end of March , 1959. These measures should include ceilings ( l i m i t s on the larger holdings), wh ich w o u l d result in surpluses be­i n g taken away f rom the bigger owners. Implementa t ion of these laws should take no longer than three years, and should be complet­ed by the end of 1961 (i.e., before

Times of Ind ia , A p r i l 13, 1958. The Hindu , October 20, 1958.

the next general elections). The surpluses t aken away f r o m the l a rg ­er holders, however, were no t to be redis t r ibuted i n t i n y bi ts . Instead, i n the interests of developing a more progressive and bet ter -yie lding ag r i ­culture, these were to be handed over fo r cooperative w o r k i n g .

D u r i n g the same three years t h a t the land reforms were to be imple­mented, the Commit tee recommend­ed t ha t mult i -purpose service co­operatives should be formed to cover a l l the villages of Ind ia . These co­operatives should be smal l enough (covering only one or two vil lages) to a l low for personal touch and i n ­t ima te knowledge among the mem­bers. Such cooperatives, however, were no t to be considered ends in themselves. I f India 's infini te number of smal l holdings were to be able to take advantage of modern f a r m ­ing methods, they would have to be brought together in to larger uni ts . Cooperative f a r m i n g was inevitable, but i t wou ld have to come in stages.'

The "service cooperatives" were to be the first stage. The next stage would be j o i n t cul t iva t ion , in which smal l holdings wou ld be t h r o w n t o ­gether to pe rmi t f a r m i n g on a larger scale, whi le the proper ty r igh t s of the ind iv idua l holders would remain separate. In his press conference on November 7, 1958, the Pr ime M i n i s ­ter emphasized the l inkage among product ion ceilings, and cooperative f a rming .

"We th ink t h a t in every vi l lage there should be j o in t cu l t iva t ion . Broadly, t h a t is the approach and the question of cei l ing is more t ied up w i t h cooperative f a r m i n g . Otherwise there is the danger of product ion going down,"

TASKS OF T H E SERVICE COOPERATIVES

In addi t ion to p rov id ing credit , the service cooperatives are expect­ed to collect, to store, and to ar­range for the m a r k e t i n g of the pro­duce of the i r members. Except for special crops in pa r t i cu la r areas, co­operatives have had very l i t t l e suc­cess in this f ie ld . Progress in the development of cooperative marke t ­i n g may be expected to l ag several steps behind the g r o w t h of coopera-

" T i m e ' of Ind ia , November 8, 10, and 19, 1958; The H i n d u , Nov­ember 29, 1958.

'The Hindu , November 8, 1958.

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t ive credit . A large number of the p r iva te part ies who lend money are also traders. It has been thei r cus­t o m to take the i r debtors' crops a t prices below the going m a r k e t rates. So long as substantial numbers of peasants depend for loans upon such traders, the scope for cooperative m a r k e t i n g w i l l remain l imi ted . (Cf. the posi t ion of the S h e t k a r i Saha-k a r i Sangh a t Ko lhapu r a n d o f the cooperative m a r k e t i n g society at Anakapalle .)

One w a y in wh ich Government may t r y to strengthen the coopera­tives is by m a k i n g the societies the chief agents for the d i s t r ibu t ion of fer t i l izers and improved seeds. Such a favoured position, however, m a y not t u r n out to be an unmixed bles­sing. In practice the handl ing of seeds is a t r i c k y mat te r . If the repu­t a t ion of the cooperative is not to suffer, the r i g h t seeds must be ready a t the r i g h t times, in the r i g h t places, in the required quantit ies.

To a considerable extent the pro­blem is the same w i t h fert i l izers . I t is also the case that fo r some years to come fer t i l izers are expected to be in short supply. The officers of the cooperatives may find the g r a t i ­fications offered to them for special favours in the d is t r ibut ion of f e r t i ­l izers almost irresist ible. In this con­nection the diversion to cash crops of fer t i l izers provided for the Grow More Food Campaign is w o r t h re­calling.10

The service cooperatives have also been called up to promote such as­sorted act ivi t ies as an imal hus­bandry, contour bunding, consolida­t i o n of holdings, and more effective use of i r r i g a t i o n water . I t is by no means clear how the efforts of the cooperatives along these lines w i l l be in tegra ted w i t h the w o r k already taken up by the communi ty projects and the State ag r i cu l t u r a l depart­ments. H a l f a century or more of ex­perience in these fields shows tha t where achievements have been re­gistered, they have fol lowed upon sustained hard w o r k on a fu l l - t ime basis by qualified persons. I t would seem unsound to expect much by w a y of accomplishment in these fields f r o m the service cooperatives.

' Government of India , M i n i s t r y of of Food and A g r i c u l t u r e ' Report o f the Grow More Food E n q u i r y Commit tee (Delhi , 1952), pp. 45-46.

C E N T P E R C E N T E N R O L M E N T

The goal of enrol l ing 100 per cent of the vi l lage families in the service cooperatives is re la t ive ly easy to a t t a in . Saurashtra has shown how it can be done. There is no reason w h y s imilar successes cannot be scored in other parts of the coun­t r y . In the abstract, the idea of hav ing a l l the vil lage families in the same cooperative m i g h t appear a t ­t rac t ive . I t wou ld seem to represent a social advance by ensuring the I n ­clusion of the bot tom half of the populat ion. Because of their weak economic posit ion the labourers, ar­tisans, cropsharers and village ser­vants have generally been kept out of the societies and have failed to benefit f rom the cooperative move­ment. These are the elements i n v i l ­lage society wh ich have the great­est difficulty in m a k i n g ends meet and consequently have the most t rouble i n repaying loans. I t m i g h t seem heartless to leave them to the mercy of the moneylender whi le pro­v i d i n g cooperative credit and other services to the i r better-off neigh­bours. The fact remains, however, t h a t s imply b r ing ing the weaker famil ies in to the cooperatives docs not automat ica l ly improve the i r basic economic position. To gather a l l these insolvent people up in to the cooperatives is doubtless a dra­mat ic gesture. B u t i t means tha t they ca r ry a l l the i r unsolved pro­blems w i t h them in to the coopera­t ive. To enroll such famil ies whole­sale in to the cooperatives before p u t t i n g their affairs on a better foo t ing is to invi te the danger tha t they w i l l d rag the societies down w i t h them.

It must also be realized tha t cent per cent vi l lage membership guaran­tees equally the enrolment of a l l the v i l lage traders, moneylenders, and landlords. W h y should they stay out of the cooperatives when Govern­ment w i l l be going to such trouble to funnel funds, supplies, equipment, and assistance th rough the new so­cieties ?

T H E W E A K A N D T H E STRONG

People l i ke to th ink tha t a com­prehensive, well-supported, w e l l -thought out Governmenta l pro-g ramme of se t t ing up cooperatives w i l l change the pa t t e rn o f v i l l age power. The evidence suggests t h a t the s t ructure of vi l lage power has im­

posed, and w i l l continue to impose, i t s own pa t te rn on the cooperatives.

This is not to say tha t in recent years there have been no impor tan t changes in vi l lage l i fe . A great deal has happened, but not. enough to enable the mass of ordinary vil lagers to shake off the g r i p of a few do­minant families. The great zamin-dars of the no r th and once-haughty mirasdars of the south have lost much of their grandeur. A good deal of land has changed hands. Universa l suffrage has come. Com­pulsory labour (began has mos t ly gone. Nonetheless, in areas where the former men of power have de­clined, others have risen up in their place. Newly-a r r ived men may show their s t rength by ac t ing more ar­rogant ly than effete aristocrats. In western Uttar Pradesh where the old zamindars have been brought down, the local Jats have ta lked of buying t rac tors and d r i v i n g the H a r i j a n labourers (Chamars) bodily out of the i r villages. In the south, landowning Thevars have been ac­cused of burn ing down the quarters (cheris) of the labourers.

The fate of land reforms since 1947 furnishes ample test imony to the power of the l i t t l e oligarchs who r u n vil lage l i fe . In the past dozen years the States of India have pu t on the s tatute books perhaps the largest body of land reform legisla­t ion passed in so brief a span of years in any count ry known to his­to ry . The vi l lage oligarchs have made a mockery of this legislation, devising 1001 ways of b locking or ge t t i ng around the law. Their rela­tions and friends in the State legis­latures have eased their task by p u t t i n g numerous loopholes in the laws or adding c r ipp l ing amend­ments.

Bombay in recent years was gene­r a l l y considered to have been the best administered of the States. The Bombay Tenancy A c t of 1948 has been cited as a model land reform law. A detailed s tudy made for the Planning Commission found the i m ­plementat ion f rom 1948 to 1953 tn have been a dismal failure. The over r id ing social and economic power of the landlords against their tenants was so great that they did not even bother to take cognizance of the reforms. "For a l l pract ical purposes." the authors concluded, the Bombay Tenancy Act "d id not

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ex is t" 1 1 The top famil ies in the B o m ­bay villages were, in other words, able to disregard w i t h i m p u n i t y land reforms ca r ry ing the f u l l sanc­t i o n of the law.

In the eyes of the dominant f a m i ­lies the ord inary people are inferiors , dependants, or servants. The l i t t l e people lack land, education, inf lu­ence, connections, s t ay ing power, resources. Often they even lack w o r k . The top vi l lage families are t io t great lords, but they are s t rong enough to get the smal l fo lk to do their b i d d i n g The dominant families t r y to abstain f r o m the actual w o r k of cu l t iva t ion ; they get others to t u r n the i r sod and l i f t the water for the i r fields. Nevertheless, the domin­ant families consider themselves the pr incipal "cul t iva tors ." They are precisely the top groups who, accord­i n g to report after repor t of the Planning Commission's Programme Evalua t ion Organizat ion, have been securing for themselves the m a i n benefits of the C o m m u n i t y Projects. S imi la r ly , w i t h the water f rom many of the vast new i r r i g a t i o n projects: they see to it tha t their fields get the water first and foremost, and leave the rest fo r the ordinary, weaker folk . Where the panchayats function, these bare admi are in the chairs. I f labour is demanded in the name of village, the ord inary people mus t go out in the hot sun. The men f r o m dominant families do not ; they send money or lend the use of a t ractor . '2

F i r m l y lodged in the chief posi­t ions of vi l lage power today, the do­minan t families stand ready to seize the l ion's share of the vast p rog ram­me of cooperative development. As the TJ.P. peasants say: "Jis ke pas j i t n a hai , u tana use m i l t a ha i . " (To h i m that ha th much, much shall be

11 W o r k i n g of Bombay Tenancy A c t , 1948: Report of Invest iga­t i o n by V. M. Dandekar and G. J . Khudanpur , Gokhale Ins t i tu te , Publ icat ion No. 35, Poona, 1957, p. 187. The general pa t t e rn of land re form in I n d i a is discussed in my book, The A g r a r i a n Pros­pect in I n d i a : F ive Lectures on L a n d Reform, Delhi School of Economics, Unive r s i ty Press, Delhi , 1956.

19 Cf., "Charter for a Rura l P lu to­c racy / ' The Economic Weekly , M a r c h 12, 1960, V o l . X I I , pp. 438-39.

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C O O P E R A T I V E J O I N T F A R M I N G I t i s ha rd to believe t ha t the ser­

vice cooperatives w i l l provide a t r ans i t ion to j o i n t f a r m i n g . Here we have to note tha t the pressure for such group f a r m i n g does not sp r ing f r o m India's villages. I t is ra ther a policy la id down in New Delh i . The vil lage s t rong have not asked fo r j o i n t farms; they do not intend to surrender control of par t or a l l of the i r land in favour of the i r tenants, cropsharers, labourers, or poorer neighbours. Nor , indeed, have these smal l f o lk demanded to be allowed to f a r m j o i n t l y w i t h the bigger people. To the extent that the small people of the villages have asked for anyth ing , i t i s to have in their own r i g h t some or a l l of the land now in the hands of the dominant families.

In the Ind ian f ramework today, i f cooperative f a r m i n g is to come, i t would have to be imposed. The Gov­ernment of Ind ia have made i t clear

to a l l those w i l l i n g to l isten tha t they do not intend to impose co­operative f a rming . Even i f they were to t r y , there is no reason to believe tha t they could succeed. A f t e r a l l , to date' the Government of Ind ia have not been able to get the pan­chayats, land reforms, or communi ty projects to w o r k a long the lines l a id down in N e w Delhi ,

At the Centre, in the States, and in the Dis t r ic ts , the adminis t ra t ion is manned by men who do not believe, i n cooperative f a rming . I f any th ing , they have less f a i t h in this latest Governmental pol icy than in pancha­yats and communi ty projects, to say no th ing of the i r hos t i l i t y to l and redis t r ibut ion .

There are, however, t w o kinds of cooperative fa rms w h i c h are l i ke ly to increase in number. F i r s t is the type so useful in evading land re­fo rm, the so-called cooperative which is real ly a s ingle-family enterprise. Once a group of relatives convert themselves in to an ag r i cu l tu ra l co­operative, they are eligible for such benefits as loans, subsidies or out­r i g h t grants f r o m Government: pr ior i t ies in securing good seeds and scarce fer t i l izers ; and the free ser­vices for several years of a t ra ined secretary. The official review of the

13 Fo r this free bu t apt. t rans la t ion I must t h a n k M r . Thomas B. Keehn.

cooperative movement i n Pun jab or 1958-59 reported tha t :

" . . . a very large number of co­operative societies are, in effect, owned exclusively by inf luent ia l families w i t h a bogus membership of some outsiders to give them the appearance of cooperative bo­dies."14

A second type of which we may see nore specimens is the k i n d of State-

cponsorcd cooperative farms I found a t Be l l i ge t t i i n D h a r w a r d i s t r i c t ( fo rmer ly i n Bombay, now in M y ­sore) , Kumbhapura in Mysore, Ashokpur i in the E t a w a h pi lo t pro­ject area (U.P . ) , and Jehangirpura near Bhopal ( M . P . ) . Here poor or previously uncul t iva ted lands were made available by Government to special groups of Hari jans , labour­ers, evicted peasants, or displaced persons. Si tuat ion, qua l i ty of soil, and ava i lab i l i ty of wa te r were usual­ly unpromising. The in i t ia t ive in f o r m i n g these j o in t farms had come f rom outside. The mot ive power to keep them going was furnished p r i m a r i l y by the State Governments which provided money, officers, sup­plies, and equipment. Jo int farms of this description are expensive and unrewarding .

C O N C L U S I O N Experience in many countries has

shown tha t cooperatives can serve as a means by w h i c h peasant c u l t i ­vators can help each other to i m ­prove thei r position. B u t the success of r u r a l cooperatives presupposes a modicum of social equality, po l i t i ca l democracy, and economic v i a b i l i t y among the vil lagers. These precondi­t ions have not been present i n v i l ­lage Ind ia and are s t i l l no t present today. I f the cooperative movement in Ind ia is to get anywhere, t w o things must happen first : (1) the power of the vi l lage oligarchs—the leading people, the mukhyes taru , to use the Kannada expression—must be cur ta i l ed ; and (2) the Govern­ment mus t become an ins t rument of the ord inary people, and must be considered as such by the ordinary people.

W h a t is happening in India today is tha t the cooperatives are being asked to create thei r own pre-condi­tions, to reconstruct vi l lage society so tha t the o rd ina ry peasants can make effective use of the coopera-

14 Ci ted in The Hindu , M a r c h 14, 1960.

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t ive method. This is too much to expect. To rush ahead premature ly w i t h cooperatives i s to inv i te fa i lure and give to cooperation a bad name.

FIELD NOTES

CHHOTA NAGPUR While d r i v ing no r th f r o m Cut tack

to Ranchi, I happened to meet a well-placed officer of the Government of Bihar . In his previous post he had spent the last few years t r y i n g to bu i ld up the cooperatives in the, Chhota Nagpur Divis ion. When he was first posted in Ranchi, there were about 60 vil lage cooperatives in the area, and they were a l l unsuc­cessful. Before he left they had in ­creased the number to about 70 but, he lamented, there s t i l l was not a single one among them tha t could be called successful. A f t e r I reached Ranchi, I to ld this s tory to the senior-most cooperative officer whom I met there. He at once offered to take me personally to a good co­operative in the Adivas i area. T h a t afternoon we drove west f rom Ranchi along the first-class road tha t eventually reaches Daltonganj , the headquarters t o w n of Palaman Di s t r i c t . A f t e r d r i v i n g about 30 miles we crossed over f rom Ranchi D i s t r i c t in to Palamau and three miles later we reached our destina­t ion , the vil lage of Senna. This lies in a communi ty development area, the Chandwa Stage I Block.

Scnha is a small vi l lage w i t h a to ta l area of some 500 acres; of these about 200 are Government forest land. There used to be a ma jo r zamindar here, but he was successfully persuaded by sarvodaya workers in 1953 to give his land as Bhoodan. In fact, we were told, near­ly everybody in the vi l lage had sur­rendered their r igh t s in favour of A c h a r y a Vinoba Bhave; the only exceptions were t w o tenants, who c lung to wha t they had. In due course the land gif ts were properly registered and then the land was re­distr ibuted. There are 26 famil ies in the vil lage, of which 19 are Mundas, 3 are Oraons, another 3 are A h i r s (shepherds-cum-milkmen), and 1 is Brahman. Before Bhoodan, there were two or three famil ies in the vil lage which had no land. In the process of redis t r ibut ion they were given land and the holdings of those w i t h only t i n y bi ts o f land were enlarged. The dist inct ive feature of Senha today is tha t i t is a sarvodaya v i l ­

lage. The sarvodaya worke r w h o came to the vil lage in 1953 to orga­nize Bhoodan has never left . Instead he has continued to w o r k there, has brought his wi fe and children, and seems to have settled down in Senha for good. His goal is to t u r n Senha in to a 100 percent Gramdan vil lage, in which a l l the ag r i cu l tu ra l land w i l l be worked as one j o i n t f a r m . It was he who organized a coopera­t ive society in the vi l lage in 1956, under the name, Senha Sarvodaya Sahjog Sami t i , L t d . He has persu­aded prac t ica l ly a l l the vi l lagers (excluding of course' the two recalci­t r a n t tenants) to j o i n th is Sarvo­daya Samit t and to give the b u l k of the i r land to the society. The Sar­vodaya worke r to ld me tha t Senha was the best Bhoodan vi l lage in Palamau, perhaps even the best Gramdan village in Chhota Nagpur. He used the terms Bhoodan and Gramdan interchangeably, t e l l ing me: "Bhoodan aur Gramdan e k i chiz ha i . ' (Bhoodan and Gramdan are one.) In a few days, he to ld me, the President of the B i h a r Bhoodan Sa­m i t t w o u l d be v i s i t i ng Senha, and has (the sarvodaya worker ' s ) a im was to announce at tha t t ime tha t the vil lage had agreed to 100 per­cent j o in t cu l t iva t ion .

The sarvodaya worker could not w a i t to show me the pride of Senha, a large wel l which the vil lagers, under his direction, were t r y i n g to cut through rock, blast ing when necessary. Sometimes, he said, they even worked r igh t th rough the n ight . In any event, the vi l lagers had s im­ple lives: they worked, ate, drank, made mer ry and slept. When we reached the wel l , we found i t was already deep; they had worked their way down th rough much rock. A t the bot tom we found nearly a dozen men, the oldest of whom was a member of the cooperative society's board of directors (a panchayatdar) , I t turned out tha t he was a Munda (his name was Delka Munda) , and t h a t one other director and the sec­r e t a ry were Mundas; another direc­tor was an Oraon; and the presi­dent, the treasurer, and the remain­i n g director were Ah i r s . The sarvo­daya worke r had the t i t l e of "con­vener" of the cooperative.

T a k i n g advantage of the fact tha t the vil lagers were glad to relax in the cool depths of the we l l , I asked them how they had benefited f r o m Bhoodan. They said they were pleas­

ed to see the zamindar go. He and his agents used to be ve ry severe w i t h them, make t hem do unpaid work , and order them around: "Cha banao! Dudh lao! Pan i l a o ! " 1 5 (Make tea! B r i n g m i l k ! B r i n g wa t e r ! ) . N o w tha t t h e zamindars h a d gone the vi l lagers had more land.

I n v iew o f the h i s t o r y o f Bhoodan-cum-Gramdan in the v i l lage , I t r i e d to f ind out f r o m those present how, in their opinion, the land of the vil lage was now held. Was i t the land of the v i l l age? Was i t everybody's land? Was i t thei r land? F r o m the secretary of the society, who was w i t h us in the we l l , I could only get vague answers. The oldest man pre­sent (De lka Munda, the panchayat-dar ) , was more posit ive: he answer­ed in the affirmative to a l l three questions. Previously the land had been w i t h the zamindars; now the land belonged to the vil lage, to everybody, to us. "Gaon ko m l l a ha i . " "Sub l o g ko m i l a ha i . " " H u m log ko m l l a h a i "

When we t r i ed to pursue the sub­ject further, he explained tha t there was no difference among his three answers; they a l l meant the same th ing . When we asked whether the land today belonged to the vi l lage or to the Mundas, at first he replied tha t the land, he fe l t , was the land of the Mundas. He qualified th i s by adding t ha t he was not sure he had understood the question. When the question was put again, he said he grasped i t , and t ha t in his opinion the l and belonged to the village. He also said tha t there was no difference between the vil lage and the people w h o made it up. The rest of the v i l lagers in the we l l looked quite puzzled; clearly they could not make head or t a i l out of a l l this. F r o m this discussion I was led to wonder how much c l a r i t y there was in the i r minds—or in anyone else's— about j u s t who was the recipient, when such vi l lagers made g i f t s of land "to the v i l lage ."

We climbed out of the wel l , in order to go to the house of the pre­sident of the society. As we s tar ted to leave, the sarvodaya worke r said br iskly, " K a m k a r i y e ! " (Get to w o r k ) . When we were a t the top of the wel l , he looked down and saw

' T h e language of the vi l lage i s not Munda, bu t Saadri, wh ich , I was to ld , is a m i x t u r e of H i n d i and U r d u .

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t h a t the Adivasis had s t i l l no t mov­ed; he shouted to the old man, " K a m kar iye , D e l k a Munda ! "

We soon reached the house of the N a y a k (headman), an Ah i r by the name of Kewala l Mahto . When we did, the sarvodaya w o r k e r ins t ruc t ­ed h i m to go and fe tch up a cot (charpoy) . A f t e r we were seated on i t , the headman informed us tha t he had been president of the vi l lage Bhoodan group for the past five years. He was one of those, he t o ld us, who had benefited f r o m Bhoodan. When the lands of the zamindar were redistr ibuted, he had got 7 acres. Of these, t w o acres were we t (paddy land) , and the rest were dry . H o w much of th is land, we asked h im, was s t i l l w i t h h i m . He answer­ed t ha t he had given the d ry 5 acres to the Sami t i fo r j o i n t cu l t iva t ion ; he had retained for separate c u l t i ­va t ion by his own f a m i l y the t w o acres of paddy land. F r o m th is they got the i r food. In doing so he waa merely fo l lowing the general pat­t e rn in Senha: people kept in their o w n hands the good, paddy land; then gave the poorer d ry land to the society. I t was p la in f r o m the w a y he spoke tha t he was in no mood to give up his paddy land.

Whi le we were t a l k i n g about six p.m., a c rowd of catt le and buffaloes came t r o t t i n g by. The president i n ­ter rupted the discussion by ge t t ing up, going over to his cat t le shed, and s t a r t i n g to t ie up his own an i ­mals. H i s lack of haste annoyed the garvodaya worker , who shouted to h i m brusquely; "Ja ldi karo , pradhan m a n t r i ! " ( H u r r y up, Chief Minis ter . ) Just then a group of women r e tu rn ­ed f rom w o r k i n g in the f ie lds and l ined up before the sarvodaya w o r k ­er. He sent for a register and entered in i t the number of hours tha t each w o m a n had worked .

When we asked the president who now held the vi l lage land, he came back w i t h a nice t u r n of phrase. There are no ma l ik s (owners) , he answered, or a l l are mal iks . ("Is gaon ke m a l i k sub k o i , nei to k o i nahin.")

A s I t was g e t t i n g late, m y com­panion and I got up, took the i r leave, and s tar ted back to Ranchl. Whi l e d r iv ing , we could no t help bu t discuss the dominant man of the vi l lage, the forceful, hard-spoken sarvodaya worker . I t was p l a i n to us t h a t he planned, directed, and

personally supervised the w o r k of the vi l lage. He was used to t e l l ing the Adivasis w h a t he thought was good for them. Whi le it m i g h t be-too s t rong to say tha t he browbeat The villagers, he cer ta in ly was used to hav ing his own way. The Adiva ­sis had been freed of their zamindar, but d id they now have a new k ind of vil lage super-headman?

C O A S T A L A N D H R A In the f ield of cooperation, coastal

A n d h r a is a land of extremes. In the southern distr icts , cooperatives funct ion at as l o w a level as can be found in I n d i a today; whi le in the nor thern d i s t r i c t of Vizagapat-am, the cooperatives rank among the country 's finest. Since I entered A n d h r a f r o m the south, the coopera­tives in Nellore and Guntur dis t r ic ts wh ich I vis i ted first were the worst . In recording this opinion, i t i s only fa i r to add that the harshest judges of the w o r k i n g of cooperatives along the south A n d h r a coast were officers and directors of those cooperatives. They vied w i t h each other in point­i n g out the most serious defects of their societies, perhaps p a r t l y in the hope tha t thereby they would bring closer the day when those deficien­cies would no longer be present.

Nel lore D i s t r i c t has the panoply of ag r i cu l t u r a l cooperatives t h a t is fa i r ­ly common today : cent ra l coopera­t ive bank, d i s t r i c t m a r k e t i n g society, cooperative ru r a l banks, large-sized societies, mult i -purpose r u r a l credit societies, and ord inary single v i l lage p r i m a r y societies. When I asked cooperative officials how much the ord inary smal l and middle peasants benefited f r o m the complex struc­ture, they to ld me f r ank ly , "No t much." The cooperatives furn ish less than 10 percent of the dis t r ic t ' s t o t a l r u r a l credit needs. Less than one percent of the m a i n crop, paddy, is cooperatively marketed. To get a loan of more than Rs. 500, the pea­sant must not only have land, he must hold it as an owner. In practice a l l loans of more than Rs. 500 must be secured by unencumbered, i m ­movable property . Credit continues to be l inked to l and assets, not to production.

The impl ica t ion of this w i l l be clearer when we review the current landholding posi t ion in Nel lore Dis -t r i c t . Accord ing to the senior-most cooperative officers and directors, ha l f of the people in the d i s t r i c t are

not landholders and get l i t t l e bene­fi t f r o m the cooperatives. On the other hand, the m i n o r i t y who have much land and good connections have many ways of securing substantial benefit.

The larger or largest landholders almost invar iably provide the office­holders and directors of the coopera­tives. Frequent ly they themselvs and thei r f ami ly members are among the largest borrowers. Loans taken os­tensibly for ag r icu l tu ra l purposes may not be spent for tha t . D i s t r i c t bank officers told me t h a t of 128 loans given for pump sets in one year, only 8 were ac tual ly bought. The same posit ion holds for loans to build wells. Instead, ag r i cu l t u r a l credit is being diverted to wa te r transport, mica, cattle, or other business. This is so notorious tha t central bank directors to ld me tha t among the bigger people a coopera­t ive ru ra l bank or b i g society is no longer an a id in runn ing a non-agr icu l tu ra l business, but a necessity. To s t a r t or to expand the i r pr ivate , non-agr icul tura l business, the bigger people form a larger sized society or a cooperative r u r a l bank. They know how to b r ing sufficient pressure f r o m above on the local regis t rars and central bank officers so as to get what they wan t .

"Emmelaitis" As in Coimbatore D i s t r i c t the co­

operative movement in Nel lore plays a subordinate and secondary role to tha t of the pr iva te t rading-money-lending-processing interests. Pea­sants repay their loans, reborrow, and hand the cash over to the p r i ­vate merchant-moneylenders, some of w h o m are owners of p r iva te rice mi l l s , who use i t in the i r own opera­tions. Quite a number of these mer­chant-moneylenders are themselves substantial landholders who belong to or are heads of cooperative so­cieties. The cooperative movement in coastal A n d h r a i s permeated w i t h politics, certainly w i t h poli t icians. As the centre of the biggest coopera­t i ve operations (i.e., in the d i s t r i c t m a r k e t i n g societies, the cent ra l hanks, and the cooperative r u r a l banks), one is almost cer tain to find in Nel lore and neighbouring A n d h r a Di s t r i c t s one or more M . L . A s . This condition, w h i c h affects not only par t s of A n d h r a but many other areas of South India, m a y be called "emmelai t is" . So f a r as Nel lore

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D i s t r i c t is concerned, a number of the biggest names in A n d h r a Pra­desh surely mus t Know w h a t is go­i n g on there, since they themselves ha i l f r o m tha t d i s t r i c t .

The cooperative movement of V i -zagapatam D i s t r i c t stands in sharp­est contrast to t h a t of Nellore. This is pa r t i cu l a r ly t rue of the societies in Anakapal le and Yel lamanchi l i Taluks , where a p i lo t project was undertaken in 1956, fo r the merger of about 150 smal l credi t societies i n to less than t h i r t y of the large-sized cooperatives recommended by the Reserve Bank 's R u r a l Credi t Survey. The leadership of the p i lo t project has come f r o m the Coopera­t ive Centra l B a n k of Viz ianagaram.

In v i s i t i n g four of these new large-size societies, I was s t ruck at once by the fact tha t the i r heads and directors were agr icu l tur i s t s . They either went out to w o r k in the f ie lds w i t h their own hands, or they gave regular, direct, on-the-spot super­vision to the i r labourers. F r o m seve­r a l angles of approach I endeavour­ed to ascertain whether there were among them any merchants, money­lenders, contractors, or other busi­ness men. The members of the A n k a -palle cooperatives, I was repeatedly assured, knew ve ry we l l tha t these business people were unsuitable for responsible posts in cooperatives; very few money-lenders were even members of the societies, and those who had joined were kept f a r away f rom the helm of affairs. As migh t be expected, some of the directors of the central bank and of the d is t r ic t m a r k e t i n g society were b i g people; among them, however, I could find only one so l i ta ry M . L . A . I n t h e large-sized societies at the vi l lage level, however, there were no giants; most directors were s imply smal l or middle-sized landowners.

They conceded tha t so fa r they had not done much for tenants and labourers. In the past, the ma in basis for loans had been the security of land. Hence w e l l over ha l f of the cooperative members had been land­owners; many of these, of course, were small or t i n y owners. Now, as par t of the P i lo t Project, the socie­ties were sh i f t i ng over to a new basis fo r credit . They were keeping comprehensive records on the i r m e m ' bers, showing the t o t a l income of each, indebtedness, expenses, etc. F r o m these records the societies de­sired to ar r ive at a calculat ion for

each member of "est imated surplus" or "saving capacity". On this oasis they hoped to make more realist ic loans, no t only to owners, bu t to tenants and even labourers.10 They were already enrol l ing more tenants and labourers as members, and t r y ­i n g to give them larger credit than in the past.

A N A K A P A L L E P I L O T PROJECT The societies in the Anakapal le

P i lo t Project are keeping other va lu­able statist ics. Their tables of dis­t r i b u t i o n of loans by size were p a r t i ­cu la r ly interest ing. They show that , unl ike the Kolhapur case, most loans are made in small and medium amounts; the to t a l amounts lent in uni t s of Rs. 500, Rs. 1,000, or more, do not seem disproportionate. Th i s wou ld tend to confirm my impression that , unl ike Nellore, the b i g people in Vizagapatam are not in control of the societies and are not exp lo i t ing them for the i r own ends.

In contrast to many other par t s of India, the cooperative movement in Vizagapatam does not seem to be subordinate to the sowkars, dalals, o r other middlemen. I f anyth ing , the societies are gaining at their ex­pense. The to ta l amount of credit advanced at low rates of interest by the cooperatives has heen g r o w i n g rapidly . In the v i c i n i t y o f Anaka ­palle the cooperatives are lending so much that they are causing a f a l l in the moneylenders' rates of interest. Whereas these used to run around 12 percent, 18 percent, 24 percent, or more, now the b ig landlord-moneylenders arc reported to be asking peasants to come and borrow at 9 percent per year. Some of the b i g moneylenders are stated to be g i v i n g up thei r old profession and going in for cinema buildings and for P.W.D, contracts.

In i ts w o r k a t Anakapal le the Co­operative Centra l Bank has scored a number of impor tan t successes. In par t , this is ascribable to the fact t ha t the directors, officers, and staff of the bank i tself are s t rong in character and competence. They have planned thei r w o r k in a care­f u l and methodical fashion; and at each stage they seem to have ex­plained in a convincing fashion to the peasant members of the societies

16The societies had not been suc­cessful in ge t t i ng their members to t e l l how much they owed to p r iva te sources of credit .

w h a t they were about and why . F a r f r o m issuing premature press releases, they seem to have done their w o r k quietly, w i thou t benefit of publ ic i ty .

There are some background rea­sons w h i c h may help to explain why the w o r k has gone we l l . The Maha-l a j a h of Vizianagaram, quite some decades back, used to have the largest zamindar i t r ac t i n B r i t i s h I n d i a . L o n g before the days of Bhoo. dan, he renounced his ownership r ights in favour of the peasants, and thereby turned them into holders of r a i y a t w a r i r igh t s . He performed a number of other notable acts, wh ich helped to develop in Viz ianagaram a sp i r i t of public-mindedness and civic responsibility. We should also note tha t Vizagapatam is not a r i c h delta area, w i t h the great extremes of weal th and pover ty so frequently found in these t racts . Instead the soils of the d i s t r i c t are on the poor side, and the wa te r supply f a r f r o m the best. There is a large mass of middle to smal l peasant holders' They are sufficiently spir i ted so as not to be in t imida ted by the b i g people; on the other hand, they are not so competit ive, individual is t ic , or quarrelsome tha t they cannot coope­rate w i t h each other.

In one crucial sphere, however, the Anakapal le P i lo t Project has pro­gressed ra ther slowly, tha t is, in the l i n k i n g of credit and marke t ing . As the Central Bank President himself stated, the to t a l loans issued to members of the large-size societies in the year 1957-58 amounted to more than 100 lakhs of rupees; but the societies used the cooperative agency for the m a r k e t i n g of mem­bers' produce only to the tune of about Rs. 22 lakhs. In other words,the Reserve Bank's scheme of in tegra t ­ing credit and m a r k e t i n g s t i l l has a long way to go in Anakapal le . Here it should be noted that , l ike Kolha­pur, Anakapal le is one of India 's greatest j aggery centres. The trade is a lucra t ive one; to main ta in the i r control of i t , the pr ivate dealers w i l l f ight long and hard. As against the cooperatives, there are many points in thei r favour.

As we have seen elsewhere, the pr ivate t raders can advance as much as they w a n t to the peasant pro­ducers, and they can advance for any purpose. The cooperative marke t ing society a t Anakapalle , which main ly handles jaggery, used to t r y to

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ma tch Che flexibility of the pr iva te traders in g i v i n g credit . The Reserve Bank, however., has called for the separation of the m a r k e t i n g funct ion f rom the loan function. In deference to these orders f r o m higher up, the Anakapal le M a r k e t i n g Society no longer gives advances to the members of cooperative societies. In the last few weeks of the cano-cum-jaggery season, however, the peasants almost invar iably need a f ina l instalment of credit, to help meet the costs of convert ing their cane in to jaggery. They used to get th is f r o m the M a r k e t i n g Society. N o r m a l l y they cannot hope to get i t f r o m their own cooperative credit society, because they have already borrowed f rom tha t society up to thei r l i m i t . In this si tuation, they have had to t u r n to the pr ivate trader.

According to the Cooperative Central Bank, this is an impor tan t reason for the large gap between the t o t a l cooperative advances to mem­bers, and value of to t a l produce marketed th rough the cooperatives. The Central Bank officers do not w i sh to question the pr inciple of separating the marke t i ng f rom the credit function. B u t they do feel tha t the pr inciple should be applied at the r i g h t t ime. When the coope­ra t ive m a r k e t i n g society a t Anaka ­palle was made to stop g i v i n g advances to peasants, there was no other cooperative agency ready to take over i ts credit funct ion. There s t i l l i s none. H a d the m a r k e t i n g society gone on issuing credit as in the past, much more jaggery, they say, would have been cooperatively marketed.

SAURASHTRA

The w o r k of organizing coopera­t ives has been given a h igh p r i o r i t y in Saurashtra. D u r i n g the past ten years the authori t ies have been pro­ceeding very rapid ly toward their goal of having every vi l lage or group of villages served by a cooperative society. One is inclined to wonder whether the pace of a c t i v i t y in f a r m ­i n g cooperatives in Saurashtra has been matched anywhere else in India . In many hundreds of villages of Saurashtra, the authori t ies to ld us, cent per cent of the cul t iva tors were members of cooperatives. Thus in the dis t r ic t of Madhya Saurashtra, which includes Rajkot , there are said to be today 284 villages in which a l l

the khatedars (holders of land) be­long to cooperatives. We were told , in fact, t h a t many of these cu l t iva­tors were so w e l l on! tha t they did not real ly have to belong to any society. The cooperative organizers had nonetheless persuaded them or put pressure on them to j o in because the achievement of 100 per cent membership among cul t ivators looked so w e l l on the records!

There are many reasons w h y Sau­rashtra should have provided favour­able ground for cooperative organi­zation. Saurashtra has been famous for i ts t r ad ing a c t i v i t y since remote ant iqui ty . I t s peasants, who grow money crops l ike cotton and ground­nuts, have a keen sense of business. As against the supply of credit at exorbi tant rates f rom traders or moneylenders, they can easily under­stand the advantages of societies which provide t hem substantial credit at low rates. They also know the wisdom of p rompt repayment of loans, to keep up the good reputat ion required for ge t t i ng adequate credit.

The agr icu l tu ra l economy of Sau­rashtra is no tewor thy for the rela­t ive ly large size of holdings and for the relat ively good condition of the livestock. Fur thermore , there are many non-agr icul tura l act ivi t ies in Saurashtra — the area is perhaps less dependent on agr icul ture than any other sizeable region in I n d i a — and these help to provide the cu l t i ­vators w i t h a good marke t or w i t h supplementary sources of w o r k or income.

As an area which was first orga­nized in to a State in 1949, Sau­rashtra came under a vigorous new adminis t ra t ion. The shift f r o m princely to popular rule also brought into prominence a relat ively young group of pol i t ica l leaders and social workers. Determined to modernize their State, they pursued an energe­t ic go-ahead policy. In this they had ample support f rom, and good con­nections in , the Central Government and Congress headquarters in N e w Delhi . To a considerable extent the momentum of the i r a c t i v i t y con­tinued in the years after 1956, when Saurashtra was absorbed in to Bom­bay State. Saurashtra today, i t should be noted, is completely covered by communi ty projects, either of the intensive block type or the nat ional extension service.

Ea r ly in the 1950's the Saurashtra Government pu t down the near-re­

bellion of Bhupat and his friends among the former Princes. The land reforms in Saurashtra, p r i nc i ­pa l ly g i rasdar i aboli t ion, consti tute a major achievement. Paral le l w i t h the i r w o r k in the cooperative f ie ld , the Saurashtra leaders have also been launching panchayats. Today Saurashtra is covered w i t h pancha­yats and cooperatives: -and at the vil lage level, the same local leader is very often the head of both orga­nizations.

Kevadra One of the outstanding societies in

Saurashtra is in the vi l lage of Kevadra, about 10 miles f r o m Keshod, in the best-off d i s t r ic t of Saurashtra, namely, Sorath. Accord­ingly, we drove down f rom Ra jko t to Junagadh and then v ia Keshod on to Kevadra, by excellent -roads a l l the way. In Kevadra the leading figure is Thakkerseybhai Dhan j i . Up to 1949 he had been a money-Jender-cum-trader. He also had a c lo th shop in Keshod. whi le in Kevadra i tself he operated, together w i t h three partners, a m i l l to expel o i l f r o m groundnuts. The ordinary cul t ivators in Kavadra were a t t ha t t ime very short of credit ; they had so l i t t l e , in fact, that to get money they used to sell the i r standing crops at l o w prices to the money-lenders-cum-traders. A regis t rar of cooperatives came to Kevadra and told Thakkerseybhai he should s ta r t a society. He did so and, fo r some t ime, ran his own shop parallel w i t h the cooperative. Then he closed down his shop, gave up moneylend-ing, and applied himself only to the society. In 1952 he sold to the society at cost prices his o i l m i l l and his huller for husking paddy. He has continued a l l along as head of the cooperative, whi le one of his partners is the secretary. Thak­kerseybhai is also sarpanch of the vil lage panchayat.

The society today provides, we were told, a l l the agr icu l tu ra l f inance of the 160 cul t ivators f rom Kevadra and one other nearby vil lage who belong to i t . They also get thei r seeds, fer t i l izer , and manure mix tu r e f r o m the society. Prac t ica l ly a l l of the members, we were informed, sell their cash crops t h rough the society. The society also has a shop wh ich sells cloth, sugar, gur, cereals, pulses, and other dai ly requirements, To members the society can sell on credit ; th is f a c i l i t y helps them to

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meet some of the i r non-agr icu l tura l needs fo r credit, e.g., the foodstuffs fo r a wedding feast. The area is quite prosperous, we were told, and cu l t iva tors usually can f inance the i r personal needs f r o m the i r own sur­pluses.

The groundnut o i l m i l l wh ich Thakkerseybhai sold to the society is reported to be very profi table . In the cur ren t year i t is expected to make a prof i t of about Rs. 20.000; the price a t wh ich i t was sold to the society is only Rs. 24,000, The m i l l employs a number of regular workers ; the male employees are paid at the rate of Rs. 2 per day.

The Kevadra Society is dis t in­guished by the fact tha t i t has about 90 to 100 non-landholders as mem­bers. To them (Hari jans , ag r icu l tu ­r a l labourers, smiths and carpenters) the society is prepared to lend up to a l i m i t of about Rs. 200. Out of i t s c h a r i t y funds the society buys schoolbooks for the children of i ts members.

F o r the past half-dozen years Thakkerseybhai himself has been c u l t i v a t i n g land, and .so has the secretary of the society. The actual w o r k in the fields seems to depend on annual labourers who are called Sathis. They may be paid anywhere f r o m Rs. 200 to Rs. 1,000 per annum; the average seems to be about Rs. 350 or 400. This is exclusive of food, c loth, etc. which are also provided by the cul t ivator . The Sathis' are not pa id a share of the crop, we were told , because of the legal res t r ic t ion (which presumably endangers the

holdings of those who get the i r land cu l t iva ted th rough cropsharers).

The officers of the Kevadra Society to ld us tha t there were 4 or 5 other cooperatives l ike theirs in Keshod Ta luk , covering altogether 15 or 20 of the 52 vil lages in the t a luk .

Thana-Pipr i P r o m Keshod we proceeded to

Van tha l i , a neighbouring t a luk in Sorath Dis t r i c t , and vis i ted the act ive society in Thana-Pipr i . L i k e Kevadra, this cooperative has a wide range of act ivi t ies in credit, mar­ke t ing , ag r i cu l tu ra l supplies and sale of such consumers goods as d o t h . A l t h o u g h i t has jus t b u i l t a godown, it has not ye t gone on to erect a pro­cessing m i l l ; the officers hope to have by next year a g inn ing m i l l and a n o i l m i l l .

The Thana-Pipr i Society was s tar ted in 1949, at the suggestion of a leading f igure in Ra jko t . F r o m an o r ig ina l l i s t of 50, the membership r o l l has steadily gone up u n t i l today i t stands at 406. The cooperative covers three villages w h i c h have a t o t a l of 280 landholders (Khate -dars ) ; of these, 268 are in the society. The m a x i m u m w h i c h the society lends to a member is Rs. 1,500. At the t ime of our v i s i t , 40 persons had received loans of th is size. The t o t a l shor t - term loans made by the society amounted to Rs. 1,45,000; whi le the medium-term-loans tota l led Rs. 20,000.

The society has keen competi t ion f rom local merchants in marke t i ng groundnuts. The officers feel tha t they have had more success in the field of credit. Previously there used to be 15 moneylenders in Thana-Pipr i , whereas now there are on ly 5. The founder of the society himself had been a t rader (which in th is area normal ly means money­lender as w e l l ) . He to ld us tha t the society cannot lend much on a long-t e rm basis to small cul t ivators . Pre­viously, he "said, they used to have to resort to the traders. N o w there i3 a land mortgage bank which gives them up to 40 per cent of the value of the i r land. He also to ld us tha t the cu l t iva tors here usually had a surplus after they had sold the i r crops and paid off thei r loans to the society. Th i s surplus they wou ld d r a w on for weddings, other unusual occasions, and ex t r a expenses. Then they would borrow again f rom the society for ag r icu l tu ra l purposes.

Quite a number of the smaller cul t iva tors and others go to the traders fo r the i r m a r g i n a l require­ments of Rs. 100 or so. If the society could lend these marg ina l amounts to them, he said, they wou ld not go to the traders.

Van tha l i

We wen t on f r o m Thana-Pipr i to the t a luka t o w n of Van tha l i , w h i c h has a populat ion of 14,000. Van tha l i , we were to ld , has the richest land in a l l of Saurashtra. About 500 k h a t e d a r ' (landlords) l ive in Van­tha l i , of w h o m 437 are members of the local mult i-purpose cooperative society. The chairman of the coope-

at ive is M u l j i b h a i Patel , a w e l l ; known Congress worker . When we a i led upon h i m . he t o l d us t h a t one

of the f i r s t t w o communi ty project

blocks in Saurashtra had been s tar t ­ed in Van tha l i . The communi ty pro­jects authori t ies indicated tha t a co­operative in Van tha l i would be de­sirable. There was great opposition to th i s idea f r o m some agr icul tur is ts who were simultaneously active in t r ad ing and moneylending. The other cu l t iva tors decided to take things in to the i r own hands. Under the leadership of M u l j i b h a i Patel, who holds 60 acres, they formed a society about six years ago. Mul j i bha i be­came the first Chairman and has held the post ever since.

The society has been pa r t i cu la r ly successful in the fields of credit, marke t ing , and sale of supplies. Las t year the society advanced Rs. 2 lakhs to i ts members. The average loan amounted to Rs. 500. The m a x i m u m loan was Rs. 2,000, wh ich was made available to .30 or 40 members. D u r ­ing the current year the society has sold as commission agents Rs. 16 lakhs of produce. The society handles, Mul j ibha i Patel to ld us, 00 per cent of the cash crops (cot ton and groundnuts) of i t s members. As against the pr ivate traders, M u l j i -bhai to ld us, the society gets the support of i ts members by g i v i n g them f u l l weight for their produce and by paying them a s l igh t ly higher price. The society also makes ava i l ­able to i t s members a wide va r i e ty ' of supplies and services. The most in teres t ing of these is protect ion against roaming cat t le which are a great trouble in this area. Fo r a small charge per acre " t h e society' has stationed men a rmed w i t h guns who protect the 'members ' f ields against these animals and the she' pherds who let them loose.

Accord ing to Mul j ibha i no mem-ber of the society now has to go for finance to a t rader or moneylender As a result he said, ten cult ivators-cum-moneylenders who had., p rev i -ously opposed the society had now given up moneylending Today they only did cu l t iva t ion and t r ad ing because they could not compete in credit w i t h the society. In fact, they had now become members of the society. The society proposes to ex­pand i ts act ivi t ies by going oh next year to the bu i ld ing of a cooperative

m i l l and other processing facu­lties.

I n Madhya Saurashtra D i s t r i c t w o vis i ted three well-reputed societies, jaach of w h i c h had i t s own interest-ng peculiarit ies. The . f i rs t of these

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was the mult i-purpose society at Sardhar which lies 17 miles to the east of Ra jko t , on the h i g h w a y to Bhavnagar. This society had the largest membership among those we vis i ted in Saurashtra, namely, 551. I t s t o t a l advances to members were correspondingly large, namely, Rs. 2 .5 lakhs for shor t - t e rm loans and Rs. 1.2 lakhs for medium-term loans. Fur ther , against produce de­posited w i t h i t fo r sale, the society had advanced another Rs. 2 lakhs. Four out of five members of the so­ciety, we were told , sold the great bu lk of the i r cash crops th rough the society. The officers of the society assured us tha t in credi t and mar­k e t i n g the old g r i p of the traders over the cul t iva tors had been broken.

There are some l imi t a t ions on the act iv i t ies of the society w h i c h may be w o r t h not ing . The society lends only to members, bu t as members i t has o n l y k h a t e d a r ' ( landholders) . Fur ther , the on ly loans w h i c h i t has been m a k i n g are fo r ag r i cu l tu ra l purposes. The no rma l l i m i t of short-t e r m loans is Rs. 750 whi le t ha t for medium- te rm loans (three years) is Rs. 2,000. The members of the so­c ie ty can get loans f r o m i t fo r per­sonal purposes only by enter ing some other reason on the loan appl icat ion f o r m . There is reason to believe t ha t some have been doing this.

Non-landholders comprise some­w h a t more than 50 per cent of the 10,000 people who l ive in the 15 vil lages served by the Sardhar So­ciety. To date the cooperative move­ment has not reached these people and they continue to be dependent upon the traders-cum-moneylenders, whether registered or unregistered. We were informed tha t the secretary of the society, r i g h t f r o m the s ta r t in 1955, has been a man of girasdar class. These ex-landlords have not a lways been noted for the i r coopera­t ive sp i r i t t oward mere cul t ivators , l e t alone the less for tunate (possibly H a r i j a n ) ag r icu l tu ra l labourers.

Sindhavadar

The society at Sindhavadar is stat­ed to be the most active in W a n k a -ner Ta luk , bu t by contrast w i t h the ones we vis i ted in other ta lukas i t i s a modest operation. In an area of 4 vil lages i t has 141 members; the t o t a l loans in the current year amount Rs. 40,000. Loans have been made to 106 persons, the largest loan amount ing to Rs. 650.

The secretary of the Sindhavadar Society since i t s inception in 1950 is an ex-moneylender-cum-trader. He said tha t he was acquainted w i t h the regis t rar of cooperative societies, who to ld h i m i t was desired to s t a r t a cooperative society. He accordingly undertook the task, beginning w i t h only 11 members. The president of the society is a M u s l i m w h o is ac­t ive in the Wankaner T a l u k a Co­operative B a n k ; one of the members of the society's manag ing committee is Sarpanch of the Sindhavadar v i l lage panchayat .

In v iew of the res t r ic ted scope of the society's act ivi t ies we were not surprised to be to ld by non-members of the society tha t there was a good deal of i n f o r m a l moneylending in the vi l lage, on a person-to-person basis. Some of the bigger people in the vi l lage, inc lud ing the sarpanch, were stated to do this , bu t i t was not clear wha t ra te of interest they charged, i f any. We were also i n ­formed tha t there was an i n t r i g u ­i n g system of lending money at wha t wou ld appear to be no interest a t a l l . Rather than take interest, the credi tor would purchase his debtor's crop, bu t perhaps pay h i m only 30 per cent, 40 per cent or 50 per cent of the value.

One of the most active societies w h i c h we vis i ted i s a t K o l i t h a d in Gondal Ta luk , 26 miles f rom Ra jko t . This society provides credit, marke ts produce, sells foodgrains and a g r i ­cu l tu ra l supplies, processes ground­nuts, and w i l l soon be g inn ing cot ton. In the 12 villages which i t serves i t has 522 members, a l l of whom are landholders.

P r io r to 1950 there was nothing, we were to ld , by w a y of cooperation

ere. The idea of s t a r t i ng a society ame f rom the Assis tant Regis t rar

who was the younger brother of one of the leading Patels in the vi l lage. They began w i t h 25 members and a smal l amount of capital . The i r w o r k in credi t and supplies went w e l l . Some of t hem had been t h i n k i n g about s t a r t i ng an o i l m i l l pr ivate ly , b u t they were persuaded by the A s ­s is tant Regis t ra r to launch i t on a cooperative basis. F o r a long t i m e they were w o r r i e d as to how they could raise the funds for so large a venture. In the end they spent Rs. 23,000 on l and and bui ldings and Rs. 21,000 on o i l m i l l machinery.

They met these expenses by pu t ­ting every th ing they had in to the o i l

m i l l , inc luding the i r share capi tal , the i r deposits, borrowings, etc. The Saurashtra State Cooperative B a n k in Ra jko t has aided the i r venture by lending them Rs. 20,000 on a short-t e rm basis, against the personal res­ponsibi l i ty and signatures of the chai rman and members of the mana­g ing commit tee of the K o l i t h a d So­ciety. In the f i rs t s ix months of ope­ra t ion the m i l l earned a net profi t of Rs. 7,000. The society hopes to earn an equal amount in the next six months. They are worr ied , how­ever, about compet i t ion f rom pr iva te m i l l owners in Gondal and Ra jko t who, they say, offer a better price to the peasant producers but cheat on we igh t and by various deduc­tions.

The head of the society, who is also v i l l age sarpanch, t o l d us t h a t pr iva te moneylending had declined around Ko l i t had . Nonetheless, there were a number of wel l -of f cu l t iva ­tors who were s t i l l lending p r iva te ly . Former ly , these agr icu l tu r i s t mo­neylenders had not been members of the K o l i t h a d Society. There was no advantage to hav ing them as mem-

ers and they were not wanted. The pressure to enrol l them came when the author i t ies in R a j k o t raised the ta rge t of cooperative membership among landholders f r o m 75 per cent to 100 per cent. Then they were taken i n ; some of them are now on the Society's managing committee. They are in a m i n o r i t y there, we were assured, and so cannot do any harm.

In considering these Saurashtra societies as a group one is led to wonder about the extent to w h i c h the cu l t iva to rs in th i s wel l -of f area are coming f o r w a r d to cooperate in the use of the i r o w n resources; or whether they are showing more active interest in obta in ing access, by fo l lowing prescribed procedures, to grants , subsidies, loans, advances and other a i d f r o m the State. The pr inc ipa l a c t i v i t y of these societies is the fos ter ing of cash crops. Under cooperative auspices land previously under foodgrains m a y be going over t o co t ton and groundnuts. I n the context of India 's food shortage th is m a y not be an al together desirable development

One is tempted to refer to the Saurashtra societies as a case of the fusion of sa rkar l , sahakar i and sow-k a r i ; and to wonder how stable, In he years to come, th is m i x t u r e w i l l

prove.

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