Recently in Cooperatives Category

It is debatable whether the governance mechanisms of voluntary bodies such as co-operatives should be specified in the Constitution, as the Cooperatives Bill proposes to do through an amendment. Kaushiki Sanyal presents a legislative brief.

The Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth) Amendment Bill, 2006 proposes to insert a new part IX B in the Constitution (adding Articles 243ZH through 243ZT), which provides for incorporation, regulation and winding up of co-operative societies.

The Bill specifies the maximum number of Board members and the tenure of the members. Elections have to be held before the expiry of the term of the Board.

(IPS) - Cooperatives in Venezuela, which are mushrooming at a rate of over 100 a day, have become a mechanism through which the government is distributing windfall oil profits to the people.

Cooperatives are created by a pooling or mixing of economic interests or labors. Members "throw in their lot" with others who do the same, with a view to realizing certain benefits impossible by action ad seriatim - such as economies of scale, increases in productivity, or retention of profits by workers. A cooperative is distinguished from a capitalist enterprise by its egalitarian structure, its goal, and its status: its goal is the mutual benefit of members, with the result that if a co-op is for-profit, it is as a means only, not as end. Equally, cooperatives are autonomous with regard to states, even though they are typically socially-owned in undivided shares. --------- Betsy Bowman

Socio-economic units will not only have to fulfill peoples social and economic needs, but also their cultural aspirations. Culture denotes all sorts of human expressions. Culture is the same for all humanity, though there are differences in cultural expression. The best means of communicating human expressions is through one's mother tongue, as this is most natural. If people's natural expression through their mother tongue is suppressed, inferiority complexes will grow in their minds, encouraging a defeatist mentality and ultimately leading to psycho-economic exploitation. Thus, no mother tongue should be suppressed.

The task for this paper is to locate the works of Shrii P. R. Sarkar in a range of classification schemes and at the same time to make these schemes themselves problematic. In general, we find Sarkar's works exemplary for the following reasons. In terms of economy, his work is strong on both growth and distribution dimensions. Sarkar is also eclectic in his theory of political-economy drawing on market and regulatory mechanisms. Alienation is a result not of private property but of the concentration of wealth and of the location of the self in a materialistic paradigm. Sarkar's Prout manages to satisfy survival, wellbeing, identity and freedom needs. Market models are strong on freedom but weak on wellbeing (especially at the periphery). Local "small is beautiful" models are strong on survival, wellbeing and identity but weak on the freedom dimension. Sarkar also takes an eclectic model of epistemology having a range of ways of knowing the world. He also takes a layered "deep and shallow" view of the nature of reality. Finally, and this is the centerpiece of the argument, Sarkar's social theory combines linear, cyclical and transcendental dimensions, thus avoiding cultural exploitation and fatalism, and accentuating ancient, modern and postmodern constructions of the social and the economic.

Besides agricultural or farmer's cooperatives, Prout advocates the formation of other types of cooperatives, including producer's and consumer's cooperatives. Producer's cooperatives include agro-industries, agrico-industries and non-agricultural industries. The total profit of such cooperatives should be distributed among the workers and members of the cooperative according to their individual capital investment in the cooperative and the service they render to the production and management of the cooperative. Similarly, like-minded persons who will share the profits of the cooperative according to their individual labor and capital investment should form consumer's cooperatives. Those who are engaged in the management of such cooperatives will also be entitled to draw salaries on the basis of the services they render to the cooperative. Consumer's cooperatives will distribute consumer goods to members of society at reasonable rates.

Besides agricultural or farmer's cooperatives, Prout advocates the formation of other types of cooperatives, including producer's and consumer's cooperatives. Producer's cooperatives include agro-industries, agrico-industries and non-agricultural industries. The total profit of such cooperatives should be distributed among the workers and members of the cooperative according to their individual capital investment in the cooperative and the service they render to the production and management of the cooperative. Similarly, like-minded persons who will share the profits of the cooperative according to their individual labor and capital investment should form consumer's cooperatives. Those who are engaged in the management of such cooperatives will also be entitled to draw salaries on the basis of the services they render to the cooperative. Consumer's cooperatives will distribute consumer goods to members of society at reasonable rates.

Commodities can be divided into three categories:

• Essential commodities such as rice, pulse, salt and clothing
• Demi-essential commodities such as oil and antiseptic soap
• Non-essential commodities such as luxury goods

Cooperative members should form a board of directors for each cooperative. The board should decide the amount of profit to be divided among the members; that is, the dividend to be paid to each shareholder. However, the total profit should not be distributed in the form of dividends - some should be kept for reinvestment or purchasing items such as tractors, manure, etc.; some should also be used for increasing authorized capital; and some should be deposited in the reserve fund. The reserve fund should be used to increase the value of the dividend in the years when production is low. If this system is followed the authorized capital will not be affected. The board of directors should be elected from among the cooperative members - their positions should not be honorary. Care should be taken to ensure that not a single immoral person is elected to the board. All directors must be moralists. To stop black-marketeering strong steps need to be taken by the government. For example, to protect the clothing industry, the government should pass a law that prevents the sale of any clothing without the trademark of the producers cooperative where it is made. Thus, if black-marketeers try to sell any clothing without trademarks, they can be easily caught. Many intelligent people know this simple but effective remedy, but still they do nothing. This is because they are the agents of capitalists who need money from these black-marketeers and hoarders to fight their election campaigns. This kind of corruption in the electoral system is part of democracy, so we can say that democracy is not the best form of government. Hoarding, profiteering and black-marketeering cannot be stopped in the democratic system because those who try to stop it will be thrown out of power. In the high point of the ks'attriya (warriors) Era smuggling and hoarding were controlled, but as soon as the influence of the intellectuals (vipras) or capitalists (vaeshyas) emerged, the control over these corrupt practices slackened.

"Pragatishiila upayogatattvamidam' sarvajanahita' rtham' sarvajanasukha' rtham praca'ritam"

[This is the Progressive Utilization Theory, propounded for the happiness and all-round welfare of all.]

A developed economy should consist of four parts - people's economy, psycho-economy, commercial economy and general economy. This quadri-dimension of economy is a vast ex¬pansion on the contemporary and co-contemporary conceptions of economic activity.

Most economists today understand only a little of the principles of general economy and something of commercial economy; but both of these parts are still in an undeveloped stage. People's economy and psycho-economy are totally over-looked by modern economists, and as such could find no place in the present mode of economic thinking.

Shrii Prabhat Rainjan Sarkar propounded the Progressive Utilization Theory (Prout) in 1959 as an alternative to capitalism and communism. All his ideas are enunciated in Prout in a Nutshell, Neo-Humanism in a Nutshell, Human Society - Parts 1 and 2 and A Few Problems Solved. In this article, I elaborate on his contribution to humanity in the area of political theory.

The experience of contemporary history has exposed the fallacies of cherished social, political and economic ideas, classical as well as revolutionary. The world is full of opportunities - material, mental and spiritual - and so to build a better and freer society is a practical possibility. Yet we are observing a process of social decadence, moral degeneration and the collapse of values which is corroding the springs of human action and corrupting the ideals of a civilized life. Failure and disappointment are bound to follow from attempts to solve the problems of our time with the ideas of previous centuries. These ideas emphasized material progress and scientific development.

However, the mental makeup and moral standard of the civilized community have not matched the level of material progress. In other words, the development of civilization - refined cultural progress - has proven far slower than scientific development.

The civilized world in this century has been confronted with new problems that seem to baffle human intelligence, which is probably inevitable if solutions are defined on the basis of old ideas and theories. Communism, which promised material well-being and security in a socially regimented and spiritually enslaved life, has collapsed, creating disillusionment about revolutionary ideals.