An Assessment on the Particulars of the Nation's Best Cooperatives in 2008

It has been a promotional policy of the Ministry of Cooperatives to elect a number of cooperative societies annually for the purpose of further motivating cooperators nationwide. Focusing on the particulars of the Nation's Best Cooperatives in 2008, the study traces them on a comparative basis in these cooperatives through three periods i.e. before 1991, during 1991-2001 and after 2001. To do so, the study has used the data regarding 351 best cooperatives elected in 2008, published by the Ministry of Cooperatives on the occasion of the 3rd Festival of Nation's Best Cooperatives. The Candidate cooperatives contest on six main criteria, with the pairs "employment size", "member satisfaction" and "entrepreneurship", "product quality" valued the highest and the lowest respectively. Results suggest that the largest number of cooperatives has been registered after the year 1380. Ongoing membership decrease, increasing employment size and the most salient emphasis on education and training-stipulated by the 7th principle of the ICIS-are other significant facts revealed about these cooperatives.