Politics of development

The sugar, industry, after textiles, is the largest processing industry in India, and in Maharashtra offers the most successful example of the growth of the co-operative movement

This work, based on an intensive field study of the Kisan Co-operative Sugar Factory in Maharashtra spread over several years, attempts to identify the factors which determine the success of a co-operative, to evaluate the nature of such success and its beneficiaries: Above all, it is an attempt to analyse the interrelationship between the co-operative movement and politics.

Drawing on detailed evidence from the Kisan experience, the author argues, inter alia, that there is a dynamic relationship between development and politics. That the existing political structures and given distribution of power within them influence the course of development, which in turn creates new opportunities and resources bringing about change in the very structure and style of politics.

Inevitably the discussion ranges to fundamental questions about the nature and goals of the co-operative movement as a whole, its social, political and economic underpinnings, and institutional. organizational and infrastructural requirements.