The Gujarat University Central Consumers’ Cooperative Stores Limited

Youth represent the most vibrant section of any society and play a pivotal role in its socio-economic changes and development. A nation can progress only when the energy of youth is channelled into constructive work. It is imperative that youth be given a major role in the process of development.

In India, young people account for nearly one-third of the total population: i.e., 350 million out of a total population of 1.1 billion. In an effort to fulfill the aspirations of this group and to empower them as active and constructive agents of positive change, the National Service Scheme, popularly known as NSS, was launched in Gandhi’s Birth Centenary Year, 1969. It is active within 37 universities and involves 40,000 students in programmes concerned with developing personality through community service. Its aims are:

• to encourage youth to respect the principles and values enshrined in the Constitution of India;
• to promote an awareness of the historical heritage of the nation;
• to help develop the qualities of discipline, self-reliance, justice and fair play; and
• to help students develop their personality as they pursue their education.

Chapter IV of the Indian Constitution provides insight and direction for the State to empower youth (as well as other weaker sections of society) through co-operatives. India is historically a welfare state that has always given a high priority to educating children and to helping them to grow in a well-rounded way. Students have been woven into the fabric of the Indian co-operative movement, as is evident in the following table on student co-operatives in India.

STUDENT’S CO-OPERATIVES IN INDIA

Source: NCUI Bulletin – A profile of Indian Cooperatives in the year 2001.

As part of state policy, and within the traditions and needs indicated above, the Gujarat University Central Consumers’ Cooperative Stores Limited was established in the year 1969 at Ahmedabad, Gujarat State of India. Gujarat was the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation and the champion of its youth. He established one University in the city of Ahmedabad, namely Gujarat Vidhyapith, and he worked in Ahmedabad during the famous freedom struggle. The Gujarat University Central Consumers’ Co-operative Stores Limited (henceforth described as the Society) was incorporated under the guidance of the then vice chancellor of the university. The students were encouraged to register as members and to participate in the affairs of the Society.

The Society was primarily established to supply such necessities as stationery, grains, provisions, clothes and other daily needs. It was established in an era of severe shortages of food, oil, clothes and provisions; a time of rationing and shortages. It was a period when the area in which the university is located (the western part of the city of Ahmedabad) was comparatively remote, a place where the few shopkeepers who were there openly exploited the students. The university teachers and student leaders sympathized with the needs of the students and urged the university authorities to help the co-operative develop.

The then vice chancellor and other office bearers, influenced by Gandhian philosophy, immediately reacted to the problem and inspired students to form their own co-operative. The University provided infrastructure as well as administrative, political and financial support in starting the co-operative and the teachers and other staff members were allowed to be members. The co-operative started with only 300 members, 20 of them institutional members, such as university press staff and teachers.

At the end of financial year 2004, there were 4600 members, including 250 institutional members. The co-operative particularly encouraged female students to join as members, but they do not play a dominant role in its affairs.

The Society is led by a board of 11 directors, six elected by the students and five by staff and institutional members. The present chairman of the board is Mr. Narhari Amin, a former Deputy Chairman of the State of Gujarat and a senate member of the university. He is an educationist and well-known philanthropist. Under the board, various committees address special issues and work for the over-all development and growth of the society and its members.

The Society is responsible for the operation of more than 160 hostel and staff quarters for employees of the University. It is engaged in supplying books, stationery, woollen cloths, food grains, pulses, oils, provisions and other supplies to the students and employees of University. It purchases as much as possible from fair trade shops and co-operative wholesales. A committee under the guidance of a senate member finalizes the purchases and the University gives priority to the society for any purchases or sales.

Financial performance:

highlights of the Society for 2002-2003 and 2003-2004

(Amount in INR)

* source – Annual Report of the Society

The co-operative model can help build the confidence of young people, and it can enhance students’ capacity building as they shape their careers and futures. It is the responsibility of large well-established institutes, such as the university, to support the creation and growth of co-operatives as a way of helping youth to develop. By doing so, they also ensure that students are treated fairly in a growing global economy and they can insist that co-operatives engage in fair and ethical trade. The present management of the university and the co-operative are helping students to adapt to the context and environment of our times. They are doing so by encouraging students to play a role in the co-operative and to learn by doing so, as well as through the youth awareness programmes that the Society operates. They have confidence in the co-operative model, want to share it with young people, and are helping to ensure that globalisation means global co-operation.

Kandarp Patel is a student of Government Engineering College, Gandhinagar, India.

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