As well as giving the visitors some insight into co-operative matters here, their visit gave us an opportunity to discover something about the status of co-operatives in India.

India has an agrarian economy with over 70% of its total population residing in rural areas. Approximately 230 million Indians are members of co-operatives. Many Indian co-operatives are quite small and this is one problem the movement is grappling with there.

The major problem they are trying to do something about however, is their over-dependence on government. Co-operation is a provincial subject in India. Like Australia, every State has its own co-operative legislation.

Chairman of Murray Goulburn Co-operative Co Limited, Ian MacAulay addressing the Indian delegation.

There are several provisions in these laws, which restrict the autonomy and operational freedom of co-operatives. Power is given to the State governments to override boards of directors and take over management of co-operatives. Also, co-operative registrars have the power to cancel board decisions and amend a co-operative's    by-laws without the approval of members.

Efforts by the Federal Government over the last fifteen years to make States amend these laws have not been successful, and they have now decided to incorporate essential aspects of co-operatives in the Indian constitution, so that it becomes mandatory for States irrespective of what their co-operative legislation provides.

Moreover, a twenty billion rupees scheme to fund the losses of rural credit co-operatives has been offered to States who agree to reform their law, thereby giving full autonomy to these credit co-operatives, which are the largest segment of the co-operative sector in India. Their co-operative credit system has the largest network in the world. Seventeen out of twenty nine States so far have accepted this proposal.

So we find that the situation in India vis-a -vis their co-operative/government relationship, is almost the complete opposite of ours here. We certainly can't claim to suffer from an over-dependence on government. However, we can claim to suffer from a total absence of government policy when it comes to co-operatives.

K.K.Ravindran,CEO, NAFCARD, and Ian MacAulay, Chairman, Murray Goulburn Co-operative Co Limited

Unlike successive Australian governments, the Indian government has formulated a national co-operative policy that, as indicated above, provides greater autonomy for co-operatives and upholds the co-operative values and principles. It also attaches priority to co-operatives acting as the Government's preferred instrument for the execution of public policy in rural areas and in sectors where they are deemed to provide the most effective delivery system.

It is now increasingly recognized that the co-operative model and sector in India has the capacity and potentiality to neutralize the adverse effects emerging from the process of globalisation and liberalization. The importance of government disengagement from co-operatives has been clearly recognized.

Tim van der Poel, Export Manager, Genetics Australia, addressing the Indian delegation

If the movement is to spread and grow successfully, it must be a people's  movement. People cannot think it is part of the government or a department of the government. For too long, co-operatives have been treated as if they were part and parcel of the administrative set-up of government. It has been a state-driven, rather than people-driven institution.