Consider the following statements and choose the correct option :
(a) The subject, 'Co-operative Societies' has been included in the Constitution of India by the 97th Amendment in 2011.
(b) The right

Question

Consider the following statements and choose the correct option :
(a) The subject, 'Co-operative Societies' has been included in the Constitution of India by the 97th Amendment in 2011.
(b) The right to establish 'Co-operative Societies' is given in Article 19(1)(c).
(c) The first law related to Co-operative Societies in India was passed in the tenure of Lord Curzon.

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — option (4), all three statements. Three statements are printed here, (a) to (c), not four, and each of them is accurate. Statement (a) is correct: co-operative societies entered the Constitution through the Constitution (Ninety-seventh Amendment) Act, 2011. The amendment did three separate things, and they are worth keeping apart because a question can be set on any one of them. It added the words or co-operative societies to Article 19(1)(c), so that forming a co-operative society became a Fundamental Right. It inserted Article 43B into the Directive Principles, directing the State to endeavour to promote voluntary formation, autonomous functioning, democratic control and professional management of co-operative societies. And it added an entirely new Part IXB to the Constitution, headed the co-operative societies, laying down rules on incorporation, the number of directors, the five-year term of the board, elections, supersession, audit and the filing of returns. Statement (b) is correct and follows from the first of those three changes: the right to form a co-operative society sits in Article 19(1)(c), which had until then covered only associations and unions. Placing it there rather than creating a fresh clause matters, because the right therefore carries the same permissible restrictions as the freedom of association — restrictions imposed by law in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, public order or morality. Statement (c) is correct as well, and it takes the story back much further. The first co-operative law in India was the Co-operative Credit Societies Act, 1904, enacted on the recommendation of the Edward Law Committee and modelled in part on the Friendly Societies Act of 1896 in England, its immediate object being to give indebted cultivators a lawful alternative to the village moneylender. Lord Curzon was Viceroy from 1899 to 1905, so the Act falls squarely within his tenure, and the statement is right. One refinement belongs in a candidate's notes even though it does not disturb the answer: on 20 July 2021 the Supreme Court held that Part IXB, in so far as it applies to co-operative societies operating within a single State, was passed without the ratification by the State legislatures that Article 368(2) requires for an amendment affecting the States, and it therefore does not operate on such societies; Part IXB continues to apply to multi-State co-operative societies, and the changes to Article 19(1)(c) and Article 43B were untouched. So statements (a) and (b) remain accurate today in every respect, and the answer is option (4).

Why the other options are wrong — (a) This option accepts statements (a) and (c) but rejects statement (b), and statement (b) is correct. The right to form co-operative societies is indeed located in Article 19(1)(c), which before 2011 read as the right to form associations or unions and now reads as the right to form associations or unions or co-operative societies. The placement is deliberate and instructive. Parliament could have created a new clause, but by adding the words to an existing one it made the new right subject to the restrictions already applicable to the freedom of association under Article 19(4) — restrictions imposed by law in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, public order or morality — rather than devising a fresh set. That is why a question about the permissible restrictions on forming a co-operative society is answered from Article 19(4). Candidates often place the right in Article 43B instead, which is a natural error because that article is also about co-operatives; but Article 43B is a Directive Principle, addressed to the State and not enforceable by a court, while Article 19(1)(c) is a Fundamental Right.  (b) This option accepts statements (b) and (c) but rejects statement (a), and statement (a) is correct. Co-operative societies were written into the Constitution by the Ninety-seventh Amendment Act of 2011, and no earlier amendment did it: before 2011 the Constitution mentioned co-operative societies only in the legislative lists, where co-operative societies appear as an entry in the State List, which is why co-operative law in India had always been State law. The 2011 amendment is what turned a subject of ordinary State legislation into a matter of Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles as well. Dating the amendment matters for a second reason: the year fixes it firmly after the era of co-operative legislation that candidates otherwise associate with the subject, and separates it clearly from the Seventy-third and Seventy-fourth Amendments of 1992, which dealt with panchayats and municipalities and are often confused with it because all three inserted a new Part into the Constitution dealing with a form of local or associational self-government.  (c) This option accepts statements (a) and (b) but rejects statement (c), which asserts that the first co-operative law in India was passed in Lord Curzon's tenure. It was. The Co-operative Credit Societies Act came into force in 1904, on the recommendation of the Edward Law Committee and drawing on Frederick Nicholson's report on agricultural credit in the Madras Presidency, and Curzon was Viceroy from 1899 to 1905. The later history is worth adding because it is examined in its own right and because it runs through Maharashtra. The Co-operative Societies Act of 1912 widened the law beyond credit to allow non-credit societies and federal societies. The Government of India Act, 1919 made co-operation a provincial subject, and Bombay was the first province to use that power, passing the Bombay Co-operative Societies Act in 1925 — the first provincial co-operative statute in India, and the one that introduced the principle of one member, one vote. A candidate who rejects statement (c) is usually thinking of one of these later statutes rather than of 1904.

Concept: The co-operative movement in India began as an official response to rural indebtedness. The Co-operative Credit Societies Act, 1904, passed during Lord Curzon's viceroyalty on the recommendation of the Edward Law Committee and modelled partly on the English Friendly Societies Act of 1896, allowed cultivators to form credit societies so as to borrow on reasonable terms instead of from the village moneylender. The Co-operative Societies Act of 1912 extended the law beyond credit, permitting non-credit societies and federal organisations. The Government of India Act, 1919 transferred co-operation to the provinces, and Bombay was the first to legislate for itself with the Bombay Co-operative Societies Act, 1925, which introduced the rule of one member, one vote. From then until 2011 co-operation remained a State subject, with a separate Union statute for societies operating in more than one State, and Maharashtra built on that base the largest co-operative sector in the country, in sugar, in dairying, in urban banking and in credit. The Constitution said nothing about co-operatives beyond the legislative lists until the Ninety-seventh Amendment Act, 2011, which added the words or co-operative societies to Article 19(1)(c), inserted Article 43B among the Directive Principles, and added Part IXB with detailed provisions on boards, elections, audit and supersession. On 20 July 2021 the Supreme Court held that Part IXB could not operate on societies confined to a single State, because the amendment had not been ratified by the State legislatures as Article 368(2) requires for an amendment that touches the distribution of legislative power; Part IXB survives for multi-State societies, and the amendments to Article 19(1)(c) and Article 43B were unaffected. A separate Ministry of Cooperation was created at the Centre in July 2021.

State PCS 2022 Q68 — Polity & Governance PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2022 Q68 — Polity & Governance PYQ with Answer