Working Papers

In December 1992, the Institute of Rural Management at Anand (IRMA) organised a major international symposium on the manage??ment of rural co-operatives. Over 300 scholars and practitioners from India and other countries who participated in this profes??sional meeting discussed the output of an intensive year-long research in which over 200 researchers studied the managerial and policy issues facing rural co-operatives in India and other Asian countries. One of the main questions investigated by this massive research programme was: what factors explain success and failure in rural co-operatives????? what has to be done if farmer co-operatives are to survive the onslaught of competition?? that economic liberalisation has already begun exposing them to? ?? It is not that this question was being asked for the first time; indeed, it is?? a question that has attracted a great deal of attention for a long time. However, the answers that have been offered are either in the form of empty assertions devoid of empirical support or plausible propositions which are unhelpful as guideline for action. For example, there are many who assert that a co-operative will always succeed socially as well as commercially if it scrupulously follows the international princi??ples of co-operation. At the other end of the spectrum, we also have a forcefully articulated viewpoint that, in a country like India, co-operatives can?? perform well only with the active support as well as regulation by the State. Besides such asser??tions which neither seem plausible nor have empirical support, there are other explanations which can not be brushed aside easily. ??