Philosophy of cooperation:

“A particular system of beliefs about knowledge or morals, an out look or set of principles.”
OXFORD DICTIONARY.

“philosophy is a body of general principles or laws of a field of knowledge”- communication

and extension in rural development –IGNOU RD.D. 7.

The philosophy of cooperation in the field of development thus is the general beliefs of
cooperation indictment imbibed with its principles and values.

The philosophy of cooperation can best be understood in the following fragmented

form of the bulk philosophy:

• Self help and responsibility

The ethics of cooperation itself is self help and the responsibility of oneself for one’s
sustainable development.

• Democracy

The base of any cooperative administration is democracy. It believes in the equal

participation of its members for the maximum benefit of all.

• Equality and equity

Equality and equity are the essence of any development believes Cooperation.
Cooperation works for equality among all. It is the very fact that inequality exists, that
cooperation are established for joint venture to achieve development so as to bring about
equality.

• Solidarity.

Cooperation can be there and successful only where there is solidarity or in simple words
cohesion or commonality, Commonality in needs, objective and aims. Where there is
differences in aims and ideology cooperation fails to succeed and be established

Members of cooperatives should believe and imbibe the values of honesty, openness,
social responsibility and concern for one another.

• Through Cooperation free men can solve problems or tackle jobs too big for an
individual.

Human society and the life of each individual, so complicated to day, had passed
through various stages of transitions. In the early stages of human life, population was few,
needs were limited, and means for fulfilment of needs were abundant. The method of
production was primitive and economy was based on self sufficiency. However wants and
needs of human being multiplied, it no longer remained possible for individuals to produce
all the things they needed. Interdependence thus arose out of necessity. So the only way out
to survive in this harsh condition of self insufficiency, cooperation is the only means to have
a better living and accomplishment of needs and wants.

• There is no single form of cooperation as such, it exist in different forms and in

different fields for different causes.

• Cooperatives are economic instruments existing and operating to increase the

profitability of their owners -- nothing more and nothing less.

Cooperatives societies are autonomous bodies, controlled and governed by the

members alone. It believes in working for the benefit of its members and thus keeps it as its
first priority.

• Cooperatives are a remarkably adaptable type of business.

In fact, they are the only type of business that is accepted by so many different types
of governments. It is a self-help tool that offers a rallying point for different economic and
social groups.

• A cooperative is a tool and, like any tool, it has no ethics of its own.

The ethics of a cooperative business are no better than the people who make up the
business.

Most people are raised in a traditional environment which teaches that some one
winning implies that some one losses, but such philosophy is neither productive nor
beneficial. Thus the philosophy of co-operation not competition is needed for individuals
to function well in a society where teamwork is necessary.

Meaning;

Scores of Sociologist and scholars have tried to define cooperation in their own
perspective, some of the best defined definition of cooperation are…

Webster's unabridged dictionary defined Cooperation as: "the association of a number of

persons for their common benefit, collective action in the pursuit of common well being,
especially in some industrial or business process."

“A cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united

Voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs
and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled
enterprise.” ICA Cooperative Identity Statement

Professor Marvin A. Schaars: "A cooperative is a business, voluntarily owned and

controlled by its member-patrons, and operated for them and by them on a non-profit or cost
basis."
French economist Charles Gide defines it as -"Cooperation (a
cooperative) is a group (group, collection) of persons pursuing
common (community) economic, social, and educational aims
by means of a business."
Thus it would not be wrong to say that by cooperation it is basically an organisation
for the establishment of a self supporting community. It is owned by and operated for the
benefit of those using its services. It is the coming and working together in order to
accomplish a common task for a common good, where by they are guided by certain norms
and rule in their quest to fulfil their needs and desire.

Cooperation is not a new thing to mankind, the very base of human society is
established on cooperation. Early man had cooperated in killing large animals and in mutual
protection. In ancient days Egyptians had craft cooperatives, and the Babylonians practiced
cooperative farming. In the past people tested and established different forms of cooperation
in the Middle East, Europe and Asia. However the first successful consumer cooperative
generally accepted was started by the 28 Rochdale pioneers in 1844.

Scope:

Cooperation as such is a very vast concept and thus has a vast scope. Cooperation is
established for different reasons and causes, with varied objectives and goals. The scope as
such can be best studied under the two heads viz. agricultural and non agricultural sectors.

Agricultural sector:

Cooperative sector is playing a crucial role in sustaining overall agricultural growth.

The cooperative sector is supplying critical inputs in the form of credits, fertilizers, quality
seeds, pesticides etc. to sustain the growth rate in the agriculture sector. The scope as such in
agricultural sector can be discussed in the following manner;

1. Supply of Finance;

Sir Frederick in 1895 said that credit facility is the utmost necessity in agriculture.
Every modern business requires finance so does agriculture. The All India Rural Credit
Survey (1954) indicated that, of the total agricultural loans leased out 3% are provided by
Cooperatives, while the rest are by Private Money lenders which of course are laden with
problems like high rate of interest which the farmers cannot bear, and encourages loans for
unproductive purposes etc. There by hampering the farmers in the long run. Thus the most
suitable is the cooperatives. However till recently it made a limited progress due to various
reasons such as severe resource crunch, mounting over dues and lack of recycling of funds
etc.
 2. Proper marketing arrangement;

The role of cooperative is not limited just in the increase in agricultural product, but
also in proper marketing arrangements. This will include proper transport facilities, regulated
markets, facilities for warehousing, the policy of minimum price support as an incentive to
agricultural production. The Eighth Five year plan (1992-1997) clearly pointed out that
cooperative sector play a major role in the distribution of inputs and services to farmers on
the one hand and in assisting marketing and processing of agricultural produce on the other.

Non agriculture sector;

Cooperation when spoken of in the non-Agricultural sector, the fields usually covered
is the consumer sector, social welfare etc in the national and international level. Let us study
the scope of cooperative in the non agriculture sector under the following heads;

1. Consumer sector;
In the primitive societies, relatively speaking, there were no problems in the consumer
sector. Consumers with their small range of wants and needs had a direct access to the local
producers. In present day situation there exists sterling margins at various stages. The result is
that, now there is often a considerable price spread between the producer and the consumer.
Cooperation of producers on the one hand and that of the consumers on the other offer one of
the practical means of reducing this price spread. This phenomenon will greatly help in
dealing with acute shortage and high prices of food grains and other necessaries of life.

2. Urban credit societies;

Apart from the problems faced by the agriculturist, the town man also encounters
problems in respect of credit as well as other aspects of his business life. Mac Lagan
committee on cooperation pointed out in 1915 that urban credit societies might serve useful
purpose in training the upper and middle classes to understand ordinary banking principles.
The cooperative urban credit societies are eminently suitable institutional agencies collecting
local savings and to provide relief to those who were in the clutches of money lenders by
providing them with financial accommodation.

3. Industrial sector;

Cooperatives in the Industrial sector offer many advantages to poor individual artisans
and uneconomic small units. They can purchase raw materials and appliances at fair price,
raise capital, and sell their products at favourable terms. Cooperation among the artisans is an
utmost necessity in today’s market in order to compete successfully with the cheap
manufactured articles of big industries. Some of the cooperatives in the industrial sectors are
namely-
I. Village industries.
Village industries are special groups of industries which are developed by people who
believe in the philosophy propounded by Gandhiji. They differ from other rural industries in
their content and technique – there are self imposed restrictions in the use of power beyond a
certain limit or the use of some types of raw materials, eg, flaying and tanning of hides and
skins from carcases of animals other than those that are slaughtered.
 II. Khadi cooperatives
The khadi group of cooperatives includes societies of cotton yarn spinners on hand
operated spinning wheels or the improved spinning wheels (ambar charkhas )

III. Coir societies

Cooperative society formed among the coir producers. There are three types of coir
societies, viz.. for collection and distribution fo husk, for production of yam, mats, mat tings
and other coir products and a society for marketing the products of the other two societies.

IV. Handicrafts
Cooperative among the craftsmen plays a vital role in providing them uniformed
effort to develop their marketing nationally and internationally.

V. Small industrial sectors

Cooperatives in small scale industrial sectors are a dynamic force in the movement.
These societies are in the fields of sports goods, leather works, electrical appliances,
industries ancillaries to large factories.

VI. Industrial estate.

Cooperative societies are formed by the small industrialists with the purpose of
establishing industrial estate where developed sites are made available to the members for
construction of workshops fitted with power and water connection.

How ever in the development of its functionality, cooperative sector still has the scope
to develop. It still has the scope of professionalizing its management, if it has to compete in a
more open economic regime, it has to especially professionalize its processing units.

The principles;

The Principles of Cooperation are guidelines by which cooperatives put their values into
practice.

1. Voluntary and Open Membership:

Cooperatives should be voluntary organisations, open to all persons able to use their services
and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, without gender, social, racial,
political or religious discrimination.

2. Democratic Member Control:

Cooperatives are democratic organisations controlled by their members, who actively

participate in setting their policies and making decisions. Men and women, serving as elected
representatives, are accountable to the membership. In primary cooperatives, members have
equal voting rights [one member one vote], and cooperatives at other levels are also
organised in a democratic manner.
 3. Member Economic Participation:

Members should contribute equitably to, and democratically control, the capital of their
cooperative. At least part of that capital is usually the common property of the cooperative.
Members usually receive limited compensation, if any, on capital subscribed as a condition of
membership. Members allocate surpluses for any or all of the following purposes: developing
their cooperative, possibly by setting up reserves, part of which at least would be indivisible;
benefiting members in proportion to their transactions with the cooperative; and supporting
other activities approved by the membership.

4. Autonomy and Independence:

Cooperatives are autonomous, self-help organisations controlled by their members. If they

enter into agreements with other organisations, including governments, or raise capital from
external sources, they do so on terms that ensure democratic control by their members and
maintain their cooperative autonomy.

5. Education, Training and Information:

Cooperative should provide education and training for their members, elected representatives,
managers, and employees, so that they can contribute effectively to the development of their
cooperatives. They inform the general public – particularly young people and opinion leaders
– about the nature and benefits of cooperation.

6. Cooperation among Cooperatives:

Cooperatives must serve their members most effectively and strengthen the Cooperative
Movement by working together through local, national, regional and international structures.

7. Concern for the Community:

Cooperatives should work for the sustainable development of their communities through
policies approved by their members.

Conclusion;

Since it believes and stands for a win-win policy of business, if appropriately

practiced and utilized, cooperation is the best tool or instrument for rural development. How
ever in the development of its functionality, cooperative sector still has the scope to develop.
It still has the scope of professionalizing its management, if it has to compete in a more open
economic regime, it has to especially professionalize its processing units.