Workers' cooperative - an Indian experience

Abstract

The history of industrial cooperative is a record of the efforts of the cooperators to bring about harmony between capital and labour. Workers' cooperatives in India are found in (a) Traditional Industries, (b) Small Scale Industries, and (c) Modern Industries. In this paper an insight into (i) the process of their formation, (ii) the problems faced by them in stabilizing their operations in a competitive environment, and (iii) the roles of Government, voluntary agencies, social workers, trade unions, etc are explored through the case study of an Indian experience, viz; Dinesh Beedi Workers' Cooperative. Despite constraints like high incidence of taxation and unhealthy competition, this cooperative has demonstrated the efficacy of cooperative model to confer several benefits to the workers.