AWARENESS OF THE RESPONDENTS TOWARDS ACTIVITIES OF CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY IN PATNA DISTRICT OF BIHAR

Agriculture being the backbone of Indian economy also acts as the core of Bihar's economy, employing 77 per cent of the work force and generating 35 per cent of the state domestic product. Meanwhile, the modernization and improvement of agriculture needs considerable investment. Whereas, Indian agriculture remained as poor man's occupation institutional credit plays an important role in agricultural development. Thus, Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) provide cheaper credit to agriculture. Descriptive research design is adopted. 120 respondents from Baruna, Chipra and Faziabad in Sampatchak block of Patna district in Bihar was purposively selected for the study since it had more number of co-operative society are present as compared to others. The primary data were collected with the help of interview schedule and the responses were recorded, classified and tabulated and appropriate statistical tools were employed. The results indicated that 48.33 per cent of the respondents were aware of the functions of the co-operative society and 45 per cent of the respondents opined that the co-operative society performance was average in marketing of agricultural products. It also implied that rules, regulations and laws should be enacted and standardized for better regulation of co-operative societies.