Pargaon Salu Malu Cooperative Credit Society (PSMCCS) of Daund tehsil, Pune district, Maharashtra is a104-year-old cooperative society with a strong social network that has remained resilient and contextual. Embedded in the needs of the its members, this cooperative society has fulfilled the requirements of its members right from plough on rent in 1944 to providing nano fertiliser and organic seaweed growth promoter in 2021 to its members.

Co-operative behaviour arises when individuals interacting in a social network derive some benefit being in a mutually beneficial relationship. The social networks are not fixed and they evolve overtime. In fact, they alter as the members become more cooperative. Dattatray Shitole (Secretary, PSMCCS) said “in our society we give focus on increasing our own productivity, quality of service, membership and capital base, and reduction of cost”.

Social contract and Networks

The classic social contract theory propounded by Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau examined the relationship between community growth and development, individual human rights, intergroup contact, communities involving human interaction, superordinate goals, and interdependency as essential factors in the development of cooperative alliances and related benefits.

Social contract is a symmetry of the give-and-take between those in power and the rest of society. The seven Principles of Cooperatives reflect the ethos of social contracts and community rooted in rural development through deep rooted values in equity, self-help, equality and economic prosperity through cooperation

The recent call for prosperity through co-operatives is about finding new solutions to pressing social needs through “bottom-up strategic initiatives with local roots” that emphasise the improvement in social relations through solidarity, reciprocity, shared values and association. History has evidences how the collective community led peasant movements in 19th century brought reforms in taxation and land revenue, how cooperative sailed through Bengal famine of 1943 crisis and the recent Covid-19 pandemic during which the co-operatives have proved to be the key community actors and enablers.

Challenges

Co-operatives today face the challenge of how to build and retain their competitive advantages in a globalised economy. To be effective and successful, a cooperative federation must continuously achieve two interrelated goals (i) strengthen the autonomy of its affiliates but maintain social networks and improve the ability to service its members (ii) remain an economically viable, innovative and competitive enterprise without compromising on sharing benefits.

Co-operatives face a big challenge to use latest technology-based communication system to not only communicate with their members and external stake-holders also to improve their governance system to make it autonomous and self-sustaining, but also use it to enhance their business as well as advocacy, autonomous and promotional role so as to compete in the market economy.

Competition to cooperation

Social innovation in co-operatives is required to face the challenges. They will work through a variety of organizational architectures to enable change. A new way of social contract needs to be implemented in this 21st century specially post Covid. We can think about organisations as being on a spectrum: At one end of the spectrum are co-operative’s entities that fill vital social and environmental needs through traditional approaches, relying on membership as their primary source of funding. At the other end of the spectrum are for-profit businesses that fill customer needs through market-based mechanisms: selling the product or service for what the market will bear.

Many for-profit companies incorporate sustainability and socially responsible practices into their operations and culture, but they are still primarily focused on the financial bottom line. It is the co-operatives that seek to collectively satisfy insufficiently-met human needs.

Co-operatives can bring prosperity through various innovative strategies business models as the world is moving from competition to co-operation and co-operatives would be the best business models to achieve sustainable development goals.

National Co-operative Week celebrations based on the main theme and sub-themes from November 14-21 will lay a good foundation for the growth of the cooperative movement. The celebrations on each day of the Co-operative Week covers the thematic areas through organization of events/seminars/workshops/talks Painting competition and with involvement of youth in large numbers as well as display of Products under brand Co-operatives.

Co-operatives are more than just a legal structure based on the values and principles rather than the ownership model that is key in understanding cooperatives. There is a need to revisit the principles of co-operatives. The principle like “members’ economic participation” and “co-operation among co-operatives” assumes greater importance in evolving social and economic transformation.

The week-long activities to promote Co-operatives and bring awareness amongst people will go a long way in strengthening Co-operatives.

(Yadav is Director and Paliwal is Professor, VAMNICOM, Pune)

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