I’ve spent years studying the economics behind India‘s decentralized textile sector, and one question keeps surfacing among weavers, policymakers, and cooperative advocates alike — does joining a powerloom cooperative actually put more money in a weaver’s pocket than working independently? The answer is more nuanced than most people assume, and the income gap between these … Read more
Rice feeds more than 3.5 billion people every single day, yet almost nobody can name the farmer who grew it. Between the waterlogged paddy fields of Vietnam’s Mekong Delta and the neatly packaged bag sitting under fluorescent lights in a London or Los Angeles supermarket, a supply chain stretches across thousands of miles and dozens … Read more
Last monsoon, a retired schoolteacher named Meena Kulkarni in Kothrud received a notice that shook her entire apartment block. The Sahyadri Cooperative Housing Society, where she had lived for 32 years, was sitting on land now valued at approximately ₹185 crore — and a private developer wanted to redevelop the entire plot. The 144 member-families … Read more
When a seasonal farm worker in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh needed an appendectomy in 2023, the nearest district government hospital had no surgeon available that week. The private clinic nearby quoted ₹75,000 — roughly five months of his annual income. What saved him was a community-owned health cooperative that performed the same procedure, including post-operative care, for … Read more
Pickle flavours have moved well beyond the burger aisle, and Twisties’ latest limited-edition release suggests snack brands are now monitoring social media trend cycles as closely as any sales report. The Arnott’s-owned brand has launched Twisties Tangy Pickle, a limited-edition variant designed to capitalise on surging consumer interest in pickled and acidic flavours. Research commissioned … Read more
In a small drying yard in Laskein block, West Jaintia Hills, I watched a woman named Rikynti Suchiang spread freshly boiled turmeric rhizomes across bamboo mats, the late-March sun turning each finger-shaped piece into something almost golden enough to be currency. She told me her cooperative had shipped 3.2 tonnes of organic Lakadong turmeric to … Read more
In Barmer district, Rajasthan, a dairy cooperative society runs a fuel station off National Highway 15. The nearest private petrol pump is 38 kilometres away. For the roughly 4,200 member-households of this cooperative, the pump isn’t just a convenience — it’s the reason their tractors run during sowing season without a full day lost to … Read more
The 97th Constitutional Amendment was passed by Parliament in December 2011 with almost no public debate. Most of the 8.5 lakh cooperative societies operating across India — and their roughly 290 million members — had no idea that Parliament had just rewritten the constitutional rules governing their daily financial lives, or that a decade later, … Read more
In the summer of 2023, soybean farmers in Harda district, Madhya Pradesh, watched helplessly as local traders offered them ₹3,800 per quintal — roughly 30% below the government‘s minimum support price. By the following rabi season, those same farmers were selling directly through their newly registered cooperative at ₹5,200 per quintal, pocketing an additional ₹14,000-₹18,000 … Read more
Every business operating in the UAE just got a new compliance deadline to think about, and the infrastructure behind it is already live. The Ministry of Finance has officially activated the eInvoicing 4-Corner Model, connecting suppliers and customers through accredited digital channels for the first time at a national scale. In practical terms, this means … Read more
