History of Co-operative Movement : Co-operative movement according to historians began during 19th century in UK, US and other countries. Robert Owen (1771–1858) is considered as the father of the cooperative movement. In 1844 the Rochdale Pioneers founded the modern Cooperative Movement in Lancashire, England, to provide an affordable alternative to poor-quality and adulterated food and provisions, using any surplus to benefit the community. The first co-operative society of India was registered in 1905. The first co-operative movement in Asia was stated at Kanaginahal in Gadag , Karnataka, under the leadership of Sri Siddanagouda Sanna Ramanagouda Patil (1843–1933), who is known as the ‘Father of Cooperative movement in Karnataka’. The Agricultural Credit Cooperative Society was launched in Kanaginahal on 8.7.1905. It was the first of its kind in Asia.
Co-operative Movement in India : The principle of cooperation was in practice in India long before, the so-called cooperative movement that began with the application of cooperative principles to business organization in western countries. A student of Indian sociology knows that in ancient rural India people used to co operate with each other for mutual benefit and that is the basis for the modern co operative movement. Asian societies have adapted the co-operative principles that were successful in the world.The cooperative movement in India may be looked into in two stages namely in pre-Independence era and in post-Independence era Soon thereafter India’s first “urban cooperative credit society” was registered in Kanjivaram in the Madras Presidency in October, 1904. Anyonya Co-operative Bank Limited (ACBL) located in the city of Vadodara (formerly Baroda) in Gujarat, which was the first co-operative bank in India. Amul is an Indian dairy cooperative society, based at Anand in the Indian state of Gujarat. Formed in 1946 it is a cooperative brand managed by a cooperative body, the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF), which today is jointly owned by 3.6 million (3.6 million) milk producers in Gujarat, and the apex body of 13 District Milk Unions, spread across 13,000 villages of Gujarat.
