Cooperatives have a long tradition and history of developing rural economic infrastructure. The first co-operative movement in England began in the early nineteenth century. In 1821, Robert Owen established a cooperative village in and around New Lanark, England, organizing workers. By collecting their own savings through cooperatives, the workers become novices in improving their fortunes. Robert Wayne's co-operative activities were very successful in the first two decades. Later, due to mismanagement, it came to a standstill in the forties. Robert Owen has been called the "Father of Modern Cooperatives" because he laid the foundations for modern cooperatives.
In fact, the triumph of the modern co-operative movement began on August 14, 1844, in Rochdale, a small town near Manchester, England. Rochdale Pioneers Equitable Cooperative Society (Rochdale Pioneers Equitable Cooperative Society) was established by only 26 (twenty eight) intelligent workers of Rochdale with the vow of self-reliance and self-effort.
Rochdale was later succeeded in August 1895 by the successful formation of an international organization called the International Cooperative Alliance. The said international organization cooperates extensively with the cooperatives. Later, in the Basque province of Spain, a cooperative called the Mandragan Cooperative Corporation was established, one of the most successful examples of cooperatives to date.
The first co-operative movement in the Indian sub-continent began in the early twentieth century. At that time about 90 percent of the people lived in villages. Agriculture was the only means of livelihood for the people.
In 175 peasant revolts took place in different parts of South India. At the root of this revolt was the lack of agricultural credit, the compounded high interest rates on bank loans, and the growing poverty of the peasantry. In this context, in 1901, on the recommendation of the Indian Feminine Commission and on the recommendation of a three-member committee (Lord Edward, Sir Nicholson and Duper Knox) formed by the then Viceroy Lord Curzon, in 1904 the then Governor General of British India Lord Curzon 'Cooperative Loan' Cooperative Credit Societies Act-1904) and the then Government of India re-enacted the Cooperative Societies Act-1912. The Act contains provisions for the formation of credit and non-credit co-operative societies and for the formation of all types of co-operative societies with limited and unlimited liability. Moreover, the law also provides for the formation of central and provincial apex bodies or banks. As a result, various types of co-operative societies with finite and infinite liabilities began to be formed in agriculture and non-agriculture all over the country.
The 'Imperial Co-operative in India' was formed under the leadership of Sir Edward McLagan to identify the problems of the co-operatives in India and come up with solutions. In 1915, McLegan submitted a committee recommendation. The report of this committee has been termed as the 'Bible of Cooperatives' for India.
Under the 1912 Act, the establishment of the Provincial Cooperative Bank was started in 1918 with the formation of the Bengal Provincial Co-operative Federation. In 1922, it was renamed as Bengal Provincial Bank.
The then Government of India made co-operatives a provincial affair in 1919. A Minister for Cooperative Affairs was also appointed under the provincial government. However, even then the activities of the cooperative were conducted in accordance with the 1912 Salel Cooperative Society Act.
In the twenties, jute buying and selling cooperatives achieved a remarkable success. Through these, the Sales and Supplies Association and the Agricultural Marketing Association play a leading role in the jute business. The Bengal Co-operative Wholesale Society, the central body of these, achieved unprecedented success in the jute business from 1926 to 1929.
In order to revive the co-operative movement, the provincial government issued the Bengal Cooperative Societies Act, 1940. In 1942, 'Cooperative Rules-1942' was published with the analysis of the said Act. But with the outbreak of World War II, commodity prices in the country skyrocketed. In 1943 there was a great famine in the whole province. On the other hand, in 1945, a nationwide anti-British movement took root. Hindu-Muslim riots started everywhere. As a result, the cooperative movement faced a huge catastrophe.
After the partition of the country in 1947, the cooperative movement came to a standstill. Although there were more than 26,000 co-operative societies in East Pakistan at that time, their condition was deplorable. Most of these associations were liquidated within the next few years.
East Pakistan Provincial Cooperative Bank was established in 1947 as a joint venture between the government and the cooperatives. Through this the government took initiative to resume the credit activities of the cooperative societies. Instead of rural societies, one union multipurpose cooperative society was formed in each union. Fertilizers, seeds, pesticides and diesel were then supplied to the farmers through these union multipurpose cooperative societies. Societies used to motivate the people to use chemical fertilizers. Societies play an important role in the introduction of modern scientific methods of cultivation.
In the 1950s, the East Pakistan Co-operative Jute Marketing Society and its affiliated Jute Purchasing Association achieved unexpected success in the jute business. Cooperatives were the fifth largest exporters of jute abroad.
In 1958, the State Bank of Pakistan started giving agricultural loans to the cooperatives in the region. In the sixties, a number of cooperative development projects were adopted and implemented in the First and Second Five Year Plans. As a result, new vigor and momentum was transmitted in the cooperative movement.
In 1956. Akhtar Hamid Khan established the Rural Development Academy at Kotbari in Comilla as a practical research institute. On his initiative, a 'two-tier cooperative system' was introduced in 1960 at Kotwali police station in Comilla. The program was launched by forming Primary Cooperative Societies at the village level and Kotwali Thana Central Co-operative Association (KTCCA) at the Thana level. In 1985, the Comilla District Integrated Rural Development Program (CDIRDP) was launched in 22 police stations in Comilla district.
In 1980, the Department of Cooperatives started publishing the monthly 'Samabaya' and the English bi-monthly 'Co-operation'. Bangladesh Cooperative College was established in 1960 on Green Road in Dhaka.
In 1971, Bangladesh National Cooperative Union (then East Pakistan Cooperative Union) became a member of the International Alliance (ICA).
In 1972, for the first time, the 'National Cooperative Policy' was adopted and disseminated. In 1982, Bangladesh Cooperative College was shifted from Dhaka's Green Road to Kotbari in Comilla.
In the years 1968, 1969, several thousand agricultural cooperative societies were established by organizing small area based farmers all over the district. The Irrigation Program and the Accelerated Rice Production Program adopted by the then government were implemented through the associations. These projects were managed by Thana Cooperative Officer, Thana Agriculture Officer, Thana Irrigation Officer of BADC and Thana Fertilizer Inspector and Thana Seed Officer under the leadership of Circle Officer in each Thana. The main role was played by the Thana Cooperative Officer.
In 1971, the Integrated Rural Development Program (IRDP) was launched to expand the activities of the two-tier cooperative system in Comilla across the province. The work of the project was started by setting up the headquarters of the Integrated Rural Development Program in Dhaka and appointing a number of officials at the district and upazila levels under an executive director.
Realizing the importance of co-operatives after independence, Article 13 (b) of the Holy Constitution of Bangladesh has declared co-operatives as one of the most important sectors of ownership. Immediately after independence, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the father of the nation, the greatest son of the Bengali nation, realized the importance of cooperatives and promised to provide easy and affordable food and agricultural inputs to the common people of the country through union-based multi-purpose cooperative societies. Moreover, loans were provided to farmers on easy terms through the formation of agricultural cooperative societies in almost every village in the country.
A statement of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is noteworthy here. In a speech at Suhrawardy Udyan on March 26, 1985, he said, "But one thing I want to say is that the new system will involve multi-faceted co-operatives in the villages." Don't get me wrong. I will not take your land. Don't be afraid to take the land. Not that. In the five-year plan, there will be one co-operative in sixty five thousand villages of Bangladesh. Every village must be a member of this co-operative. These will be multifaceted co-operatives. Every unemployed person, every person - who can work, must be a member of the co-operative. Money will go to them, fertilizer will go to them. But on August 15, 1975, the assassins thwarted Bangabandhu's dream of building a golden Bangladesh by killing the father of the Bengali nation and his family in one of the worst assassinations in the world. After the change of pot, different governments came to power at different times. They did not take any steps to realize Bangabandhu's dream. As a result, the activities of Bangabandhu's dream union based co-operative societies and agricultural co-operative societies soon came to a standstill.
On the other hand, there is a two-pronged trend in the cooperative movement. On the one hand, the activities conducted by the Cooperative Department spread beyond the agricultural sector to other sectors of the economy. For example, fish farming, sugarcane farming, weaving, handicrafts, dairy production and processing can be mentioned here. On the other hand, IRDP's two-tiered cooperative activities are mainly carried out in the agricultural sector.
Under its main project, IRDP started organizing the rural people by forming Krishak Samabaya Samiti at the village level and Thana Central Co-operative Association at the Thana level. In 1973, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman established Bangladesh Milk Producers Cooperative Union Ltd. (MilkVita) to produce, process and market milk on a cooperative basis to meet the milk demand of the country. In 1985, the Cooperative Department focused on the formation of the Vehicle and Transport Cooperative Society. As a result Bangladesh Public Transport Driver Cooperative Society and later Bangladesh Auto Rickshaw Driver Cooperative Society were formed. The IRDP started the formation of women's co-operative societies through the adoption of women's development programs. In 1972, the government, through an ordinance, formed the Bangladesh Rural Development Board in place of the IRDP and made it an autonomous body. In the same year, the Cooperative Department formed the 'Bangladesh Truck Driver Cooperative Federation' and intensified the activities of the transport cooperatives. In 1983, he tried to form a housing co-operative society by forming 'Bangladesh Co-operative Housing Federation' under the Cooperative Department. In 1973, the activities of 'Rural Development Project-2' were launched in 13 larger districts of the country through BRDB. As a part of this, the project 'Strengthening of Audit Power' was started by the Cooperative Department. A number of audit officers were appointed under the project to complete the audit activities of the BRDB-run associations.
In 1984, the 'Rural Poor Program' was launched by the BRDB. Under this, at the village level, first the formation of the Financeless Cooperative Society and later the formation of the Women's Financeless Cooperative Society was started.
On 31 December 1984, the Government of Bangladesh repealed the old Bengal Cooperative Act of 1940 and issued the 'Cooperative Societies Ordinance-1984'. It was published in the Official Gazette on 14 January 1985.
In the same year, the government included the jobs of the cooperative department in the BCS cadre. The implementation of Bangladesh Cooperative College Development Project started in 1986.
On 20 January 1986, 'Cooperative Societies Rules-197' was issued through a gazette notification. It formulated and amended many rules, including new rules for election cooperatives.
In 1979, the cooperative policy was introduced for the first time in independent Bangladesh. The development project of eight regional co-operative institutes under the co-operative department was approved by the National Economic Council this year.
In 2001, the first co-operative law was enacted in Bengal. In 2002, the amended Act, 2002) was enacted by amending certain sections of the Co-operatives Act, 2001. The Cooperative Societies Rules, 2004 were promulgated in 2004 in support of the Cooperative Societies Act, 2001 and the Amended Act 2002. In order to build a poverty-free and self-reliant Bangladesh, the National Cooperative Policy-2012 was formulated by updating the Cooperative Policy formulated in 1989 to encourage cooperative enterprises and guide the people-oriented cooperative movement. In 2013, the amended Cooperative Act, 2013 was issued by further amending the Cooperative Act.
During this long journey, the cooperative movement has spread to various sectors of the economy. Cooperative societies are roaming in various fields including production and marketing of agricultural and consumer goods, fish farming, sugarcane farming, dairy production, processing and marketing, weaving, handicrafts, pottery, leather industry, vehicles, housing, beekeeping. The co-operatives are now exporting their products beyond the borders of the country. At present the number of these associations organized in different sectors of the economy of the country is about two and a quarter lakhs. More than one crore people of the country have strengthened the cooperative movement by taking membership of these associations. The cooperative movement is playing an active role in the socio-economic development of a large section of the population.
Planning and Implementation: Cabinet Division, A2I, BCC, DoICT and BASIS
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