PolicyImpact upon Development of Co-operatives in Nepal ( A Concept Paper for PhD)
“PolicyImpact
upon Development of Co-operatives in Nepal”
A Concept Paper
Submitted to:
….., University, ….
Submitted By:
Policy
Impact upon Development of Co-operatives in Nepal
Introduction
Nepal is an agricultural country. More than 60per cent
of its population is dependent on agriculture. Some major constraints are poor
irrigation facility, commercialization of inputs, land fragmentation, dearth of
right kind of human resources, high cost of production and low return of
output; poor food security mechanism etc.Major agriculture crops include paddy,
maize, wheat, potato, buckwheat, vegetables and fruits, sugarcane, tobacco etc. Moreover, livestock
also is major sector of agriculture and includes cow, buffalo, poultry, fish
etc. In the context of unavailability of modern agricultural technology,
institutional loan, storage facilities, market, cooperative is an appropriate
device was introduced as one of the important segments under the First Five
Year Plan (1956-61). The cooperative development activities have been continued
until the present Interim Plan.
The Cooperative Movement of Nepal has dramatically
been changed by the enactment of Cooperative Act, 1992. But the cooperatives
have numerical growth, the performance is still poor. The National Cooperative
Federation of Nepal Limited [NCF], an apex body of the cooperative movement of
Nepal, registered on June 20, 1993 under the Cooperative Act, 1992, was
voluntarily and jointly organized by cooperatives of different levels on the
basis of universally accepted cooperative principles. At present NCF has a
membership of 3 Central Co-operative Unions, 1 National Cooperative Bank, 58
District Level Co-operative Unions and 7 Single Purpose Primary Co-operative
Societies.
Besides the Ministry of Agriculture & Cooperatives
and the Department of Cooperative, there is also a government institution, the
National Cooperative Development Board, which is responsible for the
development of cooperative policy and facilitation of cooperative business. The
Cooperative Training Centre has been established for conducting cooperative
training and education, a government owned institution. Others sectors which
are of significance in Nepal are the dairy cooperatives, savings and credit
cooperatives and women’s cooperatives.
Cooperatives are businesses owned and controlled by the people who use them. Cooperatives differ from other businesses because they are member owned and operate for the benefit of members, rather than earn profits for investors. Co-operative is a form of business enterprises, or community organization, incorporated in service to its members and users, in order to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations. Co-operative is jointly-owened and democratically controlled by its members and users on the basis of one member, one vote.
Co-operatives follow democratic, participatory and transparent decision-making processes and organizational structures so that their members and users (i.e. owners, workers and consumers) may be directly responsible for benefiting themselves and the society in general. Co-operatives are based on the value of self-help, mutual help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. Co-operative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, owners, social responsibility and caring for others.
Co-operation as a form of human organization has been in existence since
the beginning of civilization. In a broad sense, the differenttypes of
exchangeand reciprocal relations which existedin pre-industrialsocieties and
which were crucial for survival of its members could be regarded as
co-operative action. These types of co-operation are however different from
what we now understand as the co-operative movement. The origins of
co-operation as a formal movement can be traced to the first half of the
nineteenth century in the philosophy of Robert Owen
Co-operatives in the present do not function
merely as mutual benefit societies. They have in addition certain social
obligations which are spelt out in the principles of co-operation. The
commission on co-operative principles, appointed by the International Co-operative
Alliance in 1964, noted in its report that "co-operation at its best aims
at something beyond promotion of interests of the individual members ...
On the contrary, they played a functional
role and contributed towards perpetuating the system. The co-operative movement
on the other hand grew out of a need to change the existing society. The early
co-operators such as the Rochdale Pioneers and Robert Owen in England, Herr
Schulze and F W Raiffeinsenin Germanypropagatedthe co-operative movement as an
alternative to the exploitative nature of capitalist society in nineteenth
century Europe
Thus, in the context of Nepal, by Ashadh 2068
B.S.(16th July 2011)there are 23,301 registered co-operatives
Objectives of the study
The
importance and possibilities of the co-operative in the socio-economic
development of the poor and marginal people are multifarious. They have a
number of contributions in the local resource generation and mobilization
through the joint effort of the community. However, all these possibilities are
promoted as well as limited because of the co-operative policy. Hence, the
proposed study aims to undertake a survey amongst co-operative societies to
assess, identify and evaluate the business, financial, social and managerial
aspects of the selected co-operatives.
The specific objectives of the study are as
follows:
·
To find
out the socio-economic, managerial and operational performance, constraints and
prospects of co-operatives;
·
To
identify the promotion and obstruction of co-operative policies to gain the
best outstanding of the co-operatives;
·
To
provide recommendations to the future researchers on the ease and difficulties
of co-operative policiesupon
co-operatives.
The Research Problem
What is the role of co-operative policy in the development of co-operatives?
What is the role of co-operatives to address the three pillars of the national economic policy and what must be in the future?
What will be the role of co-operatives in federal Nepal?
What is the role of co-operatives to uplift the socio-economic status of rural
people?
What is the impact of Co-operatives in each village program launched by the
previous government (Gaungaun ma sahakarigharghar ma bhakari)?
Methodology
The
methodology be adopted in this study to explore the tension identified above
adopts a mixed method (qualitative and quantitative research) approach,
essentially built around case studies. Qualitative research operates from a
different platform and mindset to quantitative research approaches. It is
embedded in understanding individuals’ experiences of their worlds and how they
make sense of these. Thus, an appreciation of an individual’s perspective of
the co-operative business structure and
behaviour is an end in itself
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