Report on Certain Aspects of Co-Operative Movement in India

Abstract

The report that follows is the result of a visit of 14 weeks to India extending from January 2nd to April 10th. The visit was due to a request by the Government of India for my services under the Technical Cooperation Scheme of the Colombo Plan for a period of 4 to 6 months as Consultant to the Planning Commission. My terms of reference, as communicated to me by the Commonwealth Relations Office, were “to review recent developments in the field of Co-operation with reference to programmes in the second Five Year Plan and to make recommendations for strengthening the organisation of Co-operative Departments in the States, the training programmes for co-operative personnel, and the organisation of the co-operative movement at and below the district level”. Four to six months would not have been too long to carry out this mission satisfactorily, but unfortunately circumstances made it difficult for me to spend more than 14 weeks (January 2nd to April 10th) in India.