ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors review the overall performance of cooperatives in West Bengal, insofar as this can be determined from official statistics and case studies. They discuss reasons why local cooperation is crucial for rural development, especially with regard to irrigation and water control, and compare examples of cooperative irrigation from other regions. The authors focus on irrigation because it is vital to rural development and because the general absence of cooperative irrigation seems to be a major hindrance to improving agricultural production and reducing rural poverty in West Bengal. As for variety, apart from cooperative credit societies and banks, West Bengal has relatively few processing and other types of co-ops. Most technologies for water control require local cooperation in one form or another. Efforts to solve problems through cooperation will be viewed with suspicion by many people, who inevitably suspect free riding and high-handed appropriation as the real motives behind any project.
