ROLE OF COOPERATIVE INSTITUTIONS UNDER DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL RAJASTHAN

Rural Cooperative Banking and Credit Institutions play an important role in meeting the growing credit needs of rural India. And if we talk about the India at the time of 1947, India inherited a shattered economy. The economy was completely damaged. This damage was largely done by the exploitative policies adopted by the British rulers in India and finally by the partition of the country. After 60 years of independence we achieved good result in the field of service sector industry and agriculture. But it is unfortunate that large numbers of people are struggling for their basic needs of living hood in some states of India, from which one of the example is Rajasthan. It has diverse agro-climatic zones, regional disparities and different cultures. It is important to understand the regional context and livelihood systems first, before embarking on study of microfinance sector, which is still not as widespread as it is in southern states. In this study, we will look at the general context of rural Rajasthan, the status of economy, livelihood systems, poverty and its reasons, mapping the most backward districts and blocks and government's initiatives for poverty alleviation so that the importance of microfinance services are understood . The co-operative movement in Rajasthan is playing vital role in the social and economic development of the State, particularly in rural areas. Initially, this movement was confined to agricultural credit, later on, it rapidly spread to other fields like agro-processing, agro-marketing, milk production and distribution, rural industries, consumer stores, social services etc. This paper reviews the evolution of cooperative movement, examines its role and problems, and highlights its potential to adjust to the new perspectives in the context of rural Rajasthan, India. It concludes with some policy suggestions reposing great hope on the cooperative sector.