Maha nexus

The backlog of development being vast, the cooperative movement initially came as a breather for the people of Maharashtra. It also perfectly suited the socialist mood in post-Independence India. But what began as a cooperative venture to provide relief to the poor from atrocities of moneylenders, zamindars and other powerful people, gradually transformed into private fiefdoms.

A typical empire began with a politician getting government land at a throwaway price for setting up a school or a sugar/milk/bank cooperative 8220;for the development of the common man.8221; Then, policies were worked out in a manner such that on the pretext of helping the common villager or farmer, those promoting the cooperatives got incentives.

Once such cooperatives began functioning, they became power-centres for those running them. The membership of cooperatives provided captive voters for the politicians. Through sugar and milk cooperatives, the fate of local farmers rested in the hands of the politicians running the cooperatives. Through educational institutions, politicians could create an atmosphere of social service being done apart from making available skilled and faithful manpower students and teachers for running their empires including providing assistance during elections.

The empire set up by the late Vithalrao Vikhe-Patil, who pioneered sugar cooperatives, is illustrative: the first cooperative sugar mill in the country was established by Vikhe-Patil in Ahmednagar district in 1950. Subsequently, he set up allied industries like pulp and paper mills, biogas plant, chemical plant and a distillery. In 1964 the Pravara Education Society was established to run schools and colleges. The institution runs colleges in almost all faculties 8212; from arts, science and commerce, to medical, engineering, home science and biotechnology. Vikhe-Patil was succeeded by his son Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil who took forward his father8217;s work by adding institutions and diversifying into more areas. The Pravara group established a medical trust in 1972 which now runs an 800 bed hospital; and a cooperative bank in 1975.

The son, Balasaheb, and grandson, Radhakrishna, look after the empire and are considered invincible in Ahmednagar district. Their electoral clout has made the family much sought after by various parties. Balasaheb defected from the Congress to the Shiv Sena and became the Union minister of state for finance in the NDA government in 1999 and minister for heavy industries in 2002. By 2004 he was back in the Congress. Balasaheb is serving his eighth term in the Lok Sabha. His son Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil is serving his third term as MLA from Shirdi Ahmednagar and was the agriculture minister in the state in 1998.

8226; Are there estimates of the worth of such empires?

Each of these empires runs into thousands of crores. Interestingly, since most of the powerful politicians are in the business of cooperatives, they ensure that the state government bails out a particular sector in the time of crisis, through subsidies or soft loans 8212; as in the case of the sugar industry.

If a cooperative, for instance a sugar cooperative, becomes sick due to mismanagement or natural calamities the state government provides financial relief in the form of subsidies or soft loans or waiver of taxes. In the current year, sugar cooperatives faced a glut following a bumper crop, which resulted in excess cane remaining uncrushed. To bail out the sugar industry the state government has waived purchase tax worth Rs 254 crore, provided transport subsidy to transport cane from fields to factory of Rs 15 crore, and declared a compensation of Rs 25,000 per hectare for sugarcane that remained uncrushed.

8226; Are these empires confined to a particular political party or parties? Or to a specific region of the state?

Ever since the formation of the Maharashtra state 47 years ago, politicians from the Congress and those who were groomed in the Congress but subsequently broke away to form separate parties have controlled the state, except for four years, 1995 to 1999, when the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance ruled it. The Congress started the cooperative-politics pattern; and the other parties are following it.

This phenomenon is not confined to a particular region. However, the cooperative movement is more powerful in pockets of western and southern Maharashtra where the land is fertile and irrigation facilities are in abundance.

8226; Is this nexus seen to be controversial in the state? Which was the last such controversy?

There have been intermittent controversies. The last one broke out about five years ago over the payment of dues to the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company by the Mula Pravara electricity cooperative society established by the Vikhe-Patils in 1969. The society buys power from MSEB and distributes it to 183 villages in Shrirampur and Rahuri tehsils of Ahmednagar district. The society owes Rs 380 crore to the state distribution company. The MSEB has been sending notices, but there has been a lack of will to take action. The Nagpur bench of the High Court had ordered that the society be liquidated, but the matter went into appeal.

8226; Has it ever become a major poll issue?

The nexus has never been a major poll issue. In rural Maharashtra, the socio-economic arteries are in the hands of the regional lords. There is no sincere effort to question the nexus. Those in the opposition or new in politics are eager to follow in the footsteps of the cooperative barons and establish their own fiefdoms.