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Young World
Co-operate to benefit
RADHA H.S.
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Have you ever wondered how the milk you drink ended up in a pouch in your fridge?
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Photo: Shaju John
Pure joy: Milk at its best.
Everytime you pick up a glass of milk, pause and think of how it made its way to your glass. So, where is the milk coming from? Most states have village level dairy co-operatives and the National Dairy Deveopment Board (NDDB) guides and helps develop them. The NDDB website has an one interesting fact: The dairy co-operative network in India, as on March 2007, was owned by around 12.96 million farmer members of whom 3.4 millions are women. A phenomenal 12.96 million owners!
What organisation could support this?
Common goals
When people become members of an organisation on equal terms and use their resources towards common goals, it is called a co-operative. Suppose a person with a cow has surplus milk, she might want to sell it and make some money. In villages, the local trader middleman would buy this surplus at a price which suited him. Then he would add water and sell it at a higher price. The seller made no profit, the end buyer got diluted milk, but the trader made a profit.
This is where a co-operative steps in. The milk sellers form a co-operative. They organise for the milk to be collected at village levels and transported to a plant where it can be pasteurised. Then this milk is packed in pouches and transported to distributors at various towns and cities. Here good quality milk is sold to the end buyer. Co-operatives have a reputation for selling unadulterated goods and do not emphasise maximising profit. Because every seller of milk is an equal member of the co-operative, they run a transparent organisation and work towards its growth. This avoids traders, increases ownership and accountability, avoids loansharks, better voice in management, , timely payments and access to information.
The co-operative movement has been around for a long time, but organisationally based on stated principles, it has been around since the 1800s. The Industrial Revolution and then the World Wars contributed to changes in labour equations when jobs became scarce and livelihood was threatened.
Perhaps the most interesting co-operative effort can be seen in the making of the Hindi film Manthan. Directed by Shyam Benegal about the dairy movement in Gujarat, it was funded by five lakh farmers who contributed Rs. 2 each.
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