NCUI’s co-op profiling notes 20% rise in co-ops in India

Profiling of cooperatives in the country- a job the apex national body NCUI took up six months ago has revealed a massive surge in the number of cooperatives in the country-from 6.10 lakhs to 7.35 lakhs. The book titled “Indian Cooperative Movement- A Statistical Profile” was released during the Regional Assembly of ICA-AP and 9th cooperative forum of Asia and Pacific in the presence of two Union ministers.

This is the number of active co-ops not defunct ones, clarified N Satyanarayan who had entrusted Badrul Hasan, the former Executive Director of NCDC for the job soon after he assumed office of Chief Executive of the apex body.

There are about 50 thousand co-operatives which are there on paper but are actually defunct, added Hasan. Hasan has been working overtime to finish the ambitious project before the Co-operative Week.

The profiling has also thrown up some interesting points such as Maharashtra piping every other state at the post when it comes to the maths of viable co-operatives. It has the highest number touching a figure of 2.46 lakhs – way ahead of others.

Gujarat which is often held as a state studded with coops has mere 62 thousand; it is behind Telangana which has 65 thousand viable cooperatives. Bihar is ahead in terms of the number of cooperatives of both Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. While Bihar has 39 thousand ,UP and MP have 34 and 38 thousand respectively.

Jharkhand a BJP ruled state stands at the bottom with just 17 thousand co-ops. There is also no state cooperative union in the state.

Narrating his experiences while collecting data Badrul Hasan said he was thankful to the registrar of co-ops of states who promptly supplied him with the requisite figures. He named Sikkim, Tripura and Goa, among others, in this context.

But he was sore at some states who did not send him details despite his constant reminders. He got the list from UP a day prior to publication and thanked his stars.

There has been no auditing of cooperative societies in recent times but such figures as 25 crore people and 6 lakh cooperative societies are being mouthed by everyone from cooperators to ministers. Formulation of realistic policies is not possible on the basis of weak data, said Satyanarayan.

An M-Tech in Agriculture Data from IIT, Hasan is said to have applied scientific methods of collection, compilation and processing. He also took help from S K Sharma, former NCDC official to finish the job on time. “ I have come to help my friend Hasan as he has a deadline to meet. It is a free service, said Sharma underling his voluntary contribution.