Page:Indian Journal of Economics Volume 2.djvu/383

 PRAOTIOE OF O0. OPERATION 869 the societies themselves responsible for the correct information regarding their assets and liabilities. A borrower will not of course exaggerate his liabilities and minimize his belongings. But I do not think it will be beyond the staff o! the central bank adequately to check and allow for the element of the unreal in dealing with a society. In any ease, if the responsibi- lity of the panches is strictly enforced, I expect it would be possible to get much more reliable hisiyat statements than is the case at present. The foremost requisite in all this i the inculcation of sound princi- ples at the very birth of a society. If the villagers are made to realise the meaning of unlimited liability and are not led to entertain extravagant dreams of the benefits ot co-operation, they will be found to give more trustworthy information regarding their actual economic conditions. is that all societies The general complaint at present are treated indiscriminately alike by the central banks in the matter of advances, and that the management of the banks are apt to regard it as their duty to distribute the available funds among the societies strictly in proportion to their recorded hyat. It is for the directorate and the working com- mittees to see that such an easy-going attitude, fatal to all progress, is not adopted. It is far better to have a few reliable debtors of and material solvency than to unexceptionable moral have many borrowers of doubtful security. Co-operation aims at evaluation oi the moral assets of a man, and the test of success lies in the extent to which this principle is translated into actual practice. banks to adjudicate individual members Of societies, but directly with the latter. The panches It is not the business of central on the merits of applications of o51y to deal must be left to judge the credit and the needs of their members, and if they are deprived o! this fundamental respen-