Cooperatives have been in existence before the advent of modern-day cooperatives. They are used in several ways to solve socio-economic problems among the people. Cooperatives are veritable tools for economic development in many countries. Over the years, cooperative enterprises have successfully promoted many giant businesses and served as catalysts for social organisations. Information Technology (IT) has an immense potential to contribute towards achieving significant multipronged benefits for the overall development of our country specially the micro, small and medium businesses. For them, adoption of ICT can lead to an increase in financial performance, improvement in payments, processing and reduction in service time due to electronic delivery of many services.
Revolutionising Communication
In the vast landscape of India, technology has emerged as a powerful force, shaping and transforming various aspects of society. With its ever-increasing penetration and influence, technology has revolutionised how people connect, communicate, learn, work, and even govern. The social impact of technology in India has been profound, bringing about positive changes and creating opportunities for development and inclusion.Technology has also revolutionised communication, transcending geographical barriers and bringing people closer together. Social media platforms have empowered citizens to voice their opinions, mobilise movements, and hold authorities accountable. The ease of communication facilitated by technology has fostered community-building, knowledge sharing, and cultural exchange, enabling diverse perspectives to thrive and fostering a sense of belonging among Indians.
What is BIT?
BIT is probably India’s biggest and first multi-state IT cooperative truly owned, managed and executed by the Indian IT professionals. This is an organisation of and by IT professionals but it is for the nation. The cooperative has been pioneered by the collective efforts of about 125 IT industry experts with a zeal to revolutionise the ICT (Information Communication & Technology) sector by Indianising it. Thereby, making India a Vishwa Guru in this domain. Currently, the cooperative has kicked-off with around 200 top notch IT experts covering all diversified specialisations related to the ICT industry such as End to End IT enablement, IT Infrastructure & Data Centre management, Application Development, Cloud Computing, Cyber Security, Data Management, Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence, e-education and Telecom services among many other domains.
The average experience of the members in BIT is around 15 years, who are pouring around Rs 1 crore of collective capital to begin their commercial operations. The cooperative enterprise has set itself an ambitious target of making a turnover of Rs 50 crores in the first year by serving at least 1,000 clients comprising mainly MSMEs, SHGs, cooperatives, social enterprises and startups. They also wish to expand their membership base to 1,500 members from across the country in the first phase meaning the cooperative intends to generate livelihood for 1,500 IT professionals in the first year itself.
How It All Began
It all started over a friendly talk between a volunteer of the Sahakar Bharati and an IT professional working in a renowned multi-national IT company. The IT professional, in a complaining way, was deliberating about how these big tech companies are a toxic place to work and how they suck up everything out of their employees in return of a meagre portion being paid as salaries to their employees. He was explaining as to how employees are made to bill their clients almost ten times of the real value. Though big IT companies pay handsomely, it is not in proportion to what they earn through their employees toil. The other person being a volunteer of Sahakar Bharati was surprised with this as he used to pretend the IT industry as a rosy picture where there was too much money, remote working facilities and IT guys living a lavish life due to over generosity of their employer company. He thought the other person must be exaggerating things as the usual narrative is totally different in society.
Later on the volunteer enquired on this through his own references and investigated about it in detail which presented the darker side of the so-called glorious IT sector of India. He realised exploitative DNA of this industry both for the IT workers as well as customers which makes it so huge in revenue figures. He got to know how the world is exploiting Indian minds which are being used to create not just a software product but an intellectual property for their nation derived out of the Indian intellect and then used to gain and divert huge economic benefits out of India. Although India is a global leader in the IT sector, for him it seemed as a new form of colonialism where India is an intellectual colony of the so-called first world countries and our IT workforce is a modern day colonised intellect labour.
As India is heading towards the neo Industrial revolution 4.0, where Information Communication Technology will be the backbone of it, to the Sahakar Bharati volunteers it seemed very important to transform the IT sector right from its core. Having learnt ‘sanskar’ of ‘Sahakar’ from Sahakar Bharati, he proposed a cooperative solution to that IT professional friend and inspired him to sensitise his colleagues to be master of their fate and own their work as a shareholder of their collective cooperative enterprise. This will put the onus on the IT professionals themselves to shape their industry in a manner which is mutually benefitting for the IT workers as well as the IT customers and ultimately aiding the Indian growth story exponentially.
How is BIT Different?
Cooperative itself is a unique model of value-based business where prosperity and purpose go hand-in-hand without compromising one for the other. Due to the absence of any capitalist owner, cooperative enterprises work through a collective social capital allowing democratic working and equality for all the member shareholders of the enterprise. Unlike the company’s principle of one share one vote, cooperatives work on the rule of ‘one person one vote’ thereby leaving no margin for discrimination based on the economic, social or gender criteria of the members. BIT being a cooperative, inherently derives all these characters with it.
India is an IT hub. However, there is also immense unemployment amongst the young Indian IT talents. Moreover, the IT industry is entirely capitalist in nature wherein the IT professionals do not have a voice of their own as they are mere salaried employees. Also the India IT sector has become a money making machine having least to do with utilising the technology to serve the aspirations of the unserved and technologically underdeveloped sections of society in light with the real needs of a developing country like India. As a result, products/services which are being made out of the Indian IT sector are not in synch with the needs and affordability for the vast 8.5 lakh cooperatives, 1 crore SHGs, 10 thousand FPOs, 65 million small and micro businesses (including 2 million social enterprises) which forms the backbone of the Indian economy. This is creating a digital or technological divide in the Indian working society and IT for the time being is preventing a level playing field for all small Indian enterprises on a global scale.
BIT aims to primarily serve the technologically untouchables and unserved sector of the economy comprising the cooperatives, SHGs, MSMEs, startups in general from all across the nation by being their all-time technological partner, thereby using technology as an enabler to empower every Indian with the power of IT. BIT shall toil to modernise the entire ecosystem of the cooperatives and MSMEs in India; thereby technologically equip them so that Indian products/services can compete at the global level. Efforts made for realisation of this broader vision with a cooperative spirit shall be the true service for the nation by the IT professional’s cooperation.
This way BIT is hitting two aims with a single arrow wherein on the first hand it is empowering the Indian IT professionals and on the other hand it is also technologically strengthening the Indian businesses particularly cooperatives and MSME sector.
What makes it special
It is a societal trend that cooperatives are formed by the have-nots to improvise their conditions and if they succeed only then they are prioritised by those who are well to do, whereas in BIT haves of the IT industry selflessly came together as a cooperative to pave way for the downtrodden and the needy thereby setting an example of Tena Tyaktena Bhunjitha.
The Cooperative is empowered by its members only where there is absence of an ever hungry capitalist owner who demands feeding all the time with huge profits. Thus, the products and solutions which this Cooperative can deliver will be far better in terms of pricing, quality and impact. The Cooperative is dedicated to empower its members and act as a collective voice of the IT professionals on all issues anyhow associated with the IT sector and IT professionals. To ensure members economic well-being, BIT will act as a collaborative platform for generating ample avenues of earning through utilisation of their IT skills hence eradicating unemployment/ underemployment of the member IT professionals. In line with it the BIT shall also ensure skilling, reskilling & Upskilling of the member IT professionals to help them compete globally. The society shall take-up all such permissible initiatives for the welfare of members and their dependents to make their lives blissful and build loyalty, collaboration, cohesion and sense of collectiveness as one family between the members.
The unique cooperative model of BIT will also prevent exploitation of the India intellect for creation of intellectual properties thereby promoting brain drain and gaining from the Indian brains by the so called first world countries. As the IT professionals collectively own the enterprise hence they will also own and retain the intellectual property rights of their intellectual works. BIT will employ IT to make life easier for those in need & surviving hardships thereby bridging the technological divide amongst the haves and have-nots in the society by making ‘IT For All’ as our guiding motto. Through dedicated hard work, BIT will embark a nationwide cooperative movement in the IT sector which will have its spillover effect globally too and Bharat will stand out as a successful model of IT cooperatives for the world to follow. With this spirit, the organisation will put its heart and soul for ‘Building Bharat BIT by BIT’ as an overall future leader for the entire world.
Believing in mantra of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, BIT now plans to spread its wings across all the States of India and open offices in other countries
Unlike the tech giants working as money mongers, this cooperative has dedicated itself to modernise the entire ecosystem of cooperatives, MSMEs, startups and social enterprises in India. Thereby technologically equip them so that Indian products/services can compete at the global level in the upcoming era of new industrial revolution 4.0 simultaneously promote the interests of all its members to attain their socio-economic-cultural betterment through self-help and mutual aid in accordance with the cooperative principles. BIT has ambitious plans to leverage the power of technology and cooperation to address pressing social challenges in India. By focusing on digital inclusion, skill development, gender equality, and innovative applications of emerging technologies, the cooperative has the potential to create a lasting impact on Indian society and contribute to a brighter future for all.
Future Plans
On the organisational front – BIT is planning to expand its membership base on a national scale and add 1500+ member in 1st year itself helping boost the livelihood of 1500+ IT Professional across the country. BIT also seeks to raise our capital base from Rs. 1 Cr. to Rs. 5 Cr. before the end of this financial year. BIT is attracting NRIs who are working as IT professionals in different parts of the world and very soon BIT will add them as members to reverse the brain drain of Indian intellect. BIT is also hopeful that the GOI through its concerned ministry will take interest in promoting the IT Cooperative movement in India by becoming a promoter of BIT.
Sahakar Bharati
Sahakar Bharati is the only pan-India organisation of co-operators and co-operatives. It envisages creating, both in Rural and Urban areas, a solid and devoted cadre of selfless Co-operators and a chain of Co-operatives which would spread the knowledge of the Co-operative Movement, which in the present circumstances can only act as the ‘saviour’ for the upliftment of Small Farmers, Landless Labourers, Vanwasis, Women, SHGs and JLGs, Rural Craftsman and Technicians, Jobless Youth from the Middle and Lower income groups.
Aims & Objectives
- To open branches and enlighten the masses about the Co-operative Movement and Sahakar Bharati
- To encourage people at National, State, District, Taluka and Village levels to promote, form and run a variety of need-based CoOperatives of various types
- To provide advisory services in Techno-Economic areas to Co-operatives to overcome their operational issues
- To represent matters to State and Central Governments, RBI, NABARD, NHB, CBDT, NITI Aayog and other Institutions at State and National levels relating to the promotion, formation and working of the CoOperatives
- To encourage, undertake, and institute Research, Study and Surveys in various fields primarily associated with CoOperative, Social, and Economic sectors.
On the Business front – BIT has set an ambitious target of Rs.50 Cr. turnover in the first year by reaching out & serving more than 500 cooperative MSMEs, social enterprises and start-ups thereby help them leverage the power of technology to realise better business opportunities at a global scale. BIT offerings as an enterprise will include ICT Implementation, Consultancy, Governance assurance, Productivity of Assets, Quality Assurance, Skill development and AI enabled products.
Expected Positive changes in society with BIT Cooperative
- Improvement in Health Condition
- Improvement in Education system
- More efficient working
- Income enhancement
- Work-life balance improvement regarding work versus childcare, eldercare, and outside pursuits
- Workplace communication improvement
- Reduction in the feeling of being forced to do things
- Reduction in crime against women
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