Cooperatives are people-centred enterprises owned, controlled, and run by and for their members to for realise their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations. With the enactment of the Cooperative Credit Societies Act, 1904, the British tried to replicate the cooperative movement of Europe in India.

The evolution of cooperatives and their contribution to the development of agriculture in India could be traced in the following two phases:

• Pre-independence phase:
  • Indigenous activities: Even before the passing of the 1904 Act, the practice of the concept of cooperation and cooperative activities was prevalent in several parts of India. For instance, creation of village tanks, village forests etc. by village communities, Chit Funds in erstwhile Madras Presidency etc.
  • Statutory support: Cooperatives received a major boost in the form of the 1904 Act and the Cooperative Societies Act of 1912. It was believed that statutory backing would solve the issue of poverty and indebtedness among Indian farmers and their dependence on moneylenders.
  • State protection for the cooperatives: In 1945, the Cooperative Planning Committee recommended state protection for the cooperative sector. However, acceptance of this recommendation led to erosion of the cooperative principles thereby contributing to the inefficient functioning of the cooperatives in India.
• Post-independence phase:
  • Initiatives taken by the State: These include making cooperatives an integral part of Five-Year Plans and encouraging every village to have at least one cooperative society, Further, a National Policy on Cooperatives, 2002 was adopted and the Multi-State Cooperative Society Act was enacted in 2002.
  • Constitutional Provisions: Article 43B and Part IXB, on cooperatives, were inserted into the Constitution through Constitutional amendments.
  • Separate Ministry: Recently, the government established a Ministry of Cooperation, which aims to further strengthen the cooperatives movement by ensuring wider reach to the grassroots level, ensuring ease of doing business for cooperatives, etc.

The cooperatives have contributed to the agricultural development in India in the following ways:

• Providing agricultural credit: Agricultural credit cooperatives in India constitute one of the largest rural financial systems in the country, which include Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs), State Apex Cooperative Banks (SACBs), Land Development Banks (LDBs), etc. With a share of 11 per cent of total agricultural credit, cooperatives are covering 19 per cent of farmers in India.
• Providing agricultural inputs: Cooperatives provide various agricultural inputs for farmers such as fertilizers, developing irrigation infrastructure, providing extension services, etc. For example, Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO), a cooperative society, engages in the production and distribution of chemical fertilisers.
• Facilitate marketing and distribution of farm produce: Cooperatives have played a pivotal role in eliminating intermediaries in agricultural marketing and securing a large share of profits for the producers. Cooperatives also provide crucial services such as storing, transporting and processing of farm produce.
• Act as a driver of agricultural reforms: Cooperatives have played a crucial role in steering various agricultural reforms in India such as the Green Revolution of the 1960s, facilitating land reforms, etc.

Thus, from providing vital inputs to ensuring production efficiency and facilitating the distribution and marketing of agricultural produce, cooperatives are pivotal for the development of the agricultural sector in India.

The Surat Split of the Indian National Congress in 1907 into Moderate and Extremist factions took place in the aftermath of the partition of Bengal. Around that time, the country was in the grip of the Swadeshi and Boycott movements against the British government, and militant nationalism was on the rise.

The various factors leading to the Split include:

• Disagreement over the extension of the Swadeshi and Boycott movements: The Extremists did not subscribe to the methods of the Moderate leaders, which they thought bore no results. They believed in the capacity of the masses and wanted to extend the movements all across India to overthrow the British government. However, the Moderate leadership wanted to keep the movements localised due to the fear of reprisals.
• Issue of Swaraj: Despite their agreement on the negative consequences of the British rule over India and the need for self-government (Swaraj), the Moderates were reluctant to declare it as the goal of the Congress, which increased the frustration of the Extremists.
• Tussle over the Presidentship of the Congress: The Extremists wanted Tilak or Lala Lajpat Rai to be the President of the Congress whereas the Moderates wanted Rash Behari Ghose as the President.
• British policy of divide and rule: The Extremists were severely repressed by the British government while the Moderates were placated through concessions. For instance, the government offered reforms in the Legislative Councils and in the beginning of 1906, it discussed them with the Moderates even when a vigorous popular movement was going on.

The Split of 1907 dealt a blow to the Congress and India’s freedom struggle. Its consequences were the following:

• Loss of public support: The Moderates lost support in the eyes of the politically conscious and educated Indians who were more sympathetic to the views of the Extremists. With the passing of time, the Moderate group turned into a small coterie.
• Loss of momentum in the nationalist movements: In the absence of popular leaders like Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai etc., the Extremists were unable to create an alternative party, the Swadeshi and Boycott movements lost their leg, and by 1908, the nationalist movement as a whole declined.
• Victory for the British: The Moderates gave up the radical agendas adopted at previous sessions of the Congress at Banaras and Calcutta. To placate the Moderates, the British brought in the Morley-Minto reforms in 1909, which were more of an eyewash and with its separate electorate provisions, sowed the seeds of India’s partition.
• Rise of revolutionary terrorism: The Split left the national movement leaderless and directionless for quite some time paving the way for the first phase of revolutionary terrorism.

However, Indian leadership learnt from its mistakes and when a similar situation arose in 1924 with respect to the Swarajists and in 1936 between Nehru and Leftists, they remained united against the British despite their differences.

There has been an increasing trend of urban flood disasters in India over the past several years whereby major cities have been severely affected. Most recently, Bengaluru was brought to a standstill due to flooding of the city (2022). In the 2020 floods in Hyderabad, thousands of houses were submerged. Similarly, the 2015 Chennai flood was devastating. To combat such occurrences, cities have mostly relied on traditional approaches of flood management termed ‘Grey Infrastructure’. Grey infrastructure refers to structures such as dams, seawalls, roads, pipes, or water treatment plants.

Issues with this traditional approach to flood management:

• The infrastructure often gets overwhelmed during heavy downpours due to the reduced capacity of installed pipelines, flood storage, drawbacks in the operation of pumping stations, and a general lack of maintenance.
• Extreme precipitation events could lead to frequent run-offs, which could exceed the capacities of current urban drainage systems. Therefore, areas along the rivers or the coastlines and inland areas are vulnerable to increased risks of flooding, rising sea levels, and uncertain precipitation patterns.
• The current global issues, such as increased urbanization, higher run-off volumes, and climate change, have put a strain on the existing systems. The problems have particularly escalated in the face of climate change that impacts rainfall patterns, intensities, and their frequencies.
• It becomes difficult to upgrade the existing grey infrastructure with changing dimensions and changing loads.

Therefore, there is a need for alternative approaches to urban flood management. Many cities around the world are adopting nature-based solutions (NBS) that are socio-ecologically sound to reduce the loss of lives and livelihoods from urban floods. These measures can be exercised at both ends of the system, from individuals in households to local government bodies. They include the following:

• Setting up urban forests, terraces, and slopes, open green spaces, and corridors.
• Other components include urban farming and bioretention areas, natural or constructed inland wetlands, river and floodplain restoration, riparian buffer formation or rejuvenating and installing mangroves and salt marshes, based on space availability and the nature of the ambient topography, city site, and size and its socio-economic profile, need to be incorporated.
• Adopting eco-friendly practices from various states/union territories country-wide, such as:

• • Jammu and Kashmir’s eco-restoration policies to fight against climate change.
  • Emphasis on the importance of open spaces within built-up areas, preservation of watersheds and wetlands, reconnecting the floodplains, and afforestation, as done in Guwahati (Assam).
  • Some notable nature-based solutions to combat urban drainage issues and environmental impacts are Bhopal’s Green and Blue Master Plan, Delhi’s Master Plan 2041, Chennai’s ‘Water as Leverage’ initiative, and Pune’s urban agricultural plan.

India’s urban population is expected to reach 814 million by 2050, with the addition of four new megacities by 2030. Therefore, there is an urgent need to recognize and advocate the adoption of NBS at the national level to mitigate urban flooding and include them as crucial components of city Master Plans and urban renewal schemes in India.