The
Cooperative Way
WHEN groups of people
with the similar objective of improving the standards of life come together, it makes a
difference to the collective well-being of the people. That there is strength in numbers
and that concerted efforts to bring about better life conditions pays, has been proven
over the decades by the cooperative movement worldwide. Collective wisdom and positive
group dynamism could do wonders in getting people out of the poverty trap. The
movement’s popularity can be testified by the fact that initiated in 1844 it has now
more than 800 million members in 102 countries linked by some 256 national cooperative
organisations. In Nepal’s national plans and policies too, the cooperative movement
has been much emphasised upon. Whether this has resulted in an expansion of the movement
to the extent that is necessary and desirable in the country is a moot point, though. The
logic of strengthening this movement is incontestable. As Prime Minister Sher Bahadur
Deuba pointed out in his inaugural address to the Sixth Conference of the Cooperatives
Ministers for Asia and the Pacific on Wednesday, cooperatives are the best means for
bringing about positive changes in societies with inadequate economic and institutional
support systems. Indeed, beyond the theory, cooperative movement, even in the limited
state it is now, has amply yielded many instances of groups of poor people banding
together for their collective welfare and achieving that objective. Be it in agriculture
or any other area, many cooperatives have proven their worth. Lives of many people are
better now than before thanks to the benefits that launching a cooperative has yielded to
them.
But no socio-economic
movement is purely self-propelling. The government has to create a congenial environment
for such movements to flourish. Prime Minister Deuba told the gathering, being attended by
158 participants from 28 countries, that the government was committed to provide a
conducive atmosphere for the cooperative organisations and to help them establish
themselves as self-motivated and independent institutions. Nepal’s cooperative
movement does need some positive interventions from the government in terms of bringing in
clarity vis-a-vis fiscal legislation, tax laws, policies on cooperative banks and so on.
With sufficient encouragement from the government in this regard, more and more
disadvantaged people in the country could embrace the cooperative way to better their
economic conditions.
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