A
cooperative is "an autonomous
association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic,
social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned
enterprise". Cooperatives are democratically owned by their members, with
each member having one vote in electing the board of directors.
I studied in
the famous Hindu High School – the Red Building on Big Street is an imposing
landmark of Thiruvallikkeni. Hindu High School (now the Hindu Higher Secondary
School), founded in 1852 as the DravidaPatashala metamorphosized big and
produced many scholars and famous persons. In 1897 the school moved into a
present premises which is a red coloured three storeyed building in what can
best be described as the Indo Gothic style.
Atop the School HM room is a big hall where many sangeet performances,
kathakalakshepams were held with many hundreds attending them. Amon the many doyens was ‘silver tongued orator’ of Madras, the Rt.
Hon. VS Srinivasa Sastry whose English was praised even by Winston
Churchill, was once headmaster of this
school. Yet another illustrious alumnus was S Chandrashekhar, the Nobel
laureate.
Ages ago, in
1975, I graduated from Samarao school
and joined 6th Standard in the Hindu High School, that grand Red building in
Big Street. From my house in TP Koil
Street, (nearer Azhagiyasingarsannathi / MahakaviBarathiyarillam) would walk via – NKT National Boys School,
Sri Raghavendra Mutt, Vadivudaiya Amman ghee store, Uthukulivennaikadai, Gangaikondanmantap
and vegetable market, winding Big Street, passing the old Post Office building,
TUCS, big and small shops, Bank branches
[Syndicate, Canara, IOB], tea stalls –
cross carefully Pycrofts road (on which PTC buses would run];
ArasadiKarpagaVinayakar temple (more famously Big St Pillaiyarkoil) .. .. .. and reach my school.
ValangaimanSankaranarayana
Srinivasa Sastri was born ten days ahead of the Mahatma — a fact Gandhi never
let him forget, always calling him ‘Anna’.
Born in a poor family near
Kumbakonam, Shastri rose to what his
social limits allowed him to — a school teacher. He was trained at the Saidapet
Teacher Training College, where he reportedly corrected the pronunciation of
the English principal himself and a Standard English Dictionary from the
library adjudicated that Srinivasa Shastriyar was right and the principal
congratulated him for his meticulousness.Sastri considered the teaching
profession as the noblest. For half a century, he served from a humble school
teacher to the highest position of vice-chancellor in his career. A South
African school he started in Durban still exists as ‘Sastri college’! After 17 years of teaching at various schools
including the Hindu School of Triplicane (the only Madras school to count a
Nobel laureate as an alumnus), Shastri resigned and threw himself headlong into
politics. Surprisingly, this was after reading just one pamphlet written by
Gokhale as part of Servants of India Society. He served the society admirably
and on Gokhale’s death became the President, a position Gokhale had earlier
groomed Gandhi for till their footpaths to freedom differed.
Srinivasa Sastri served as
a member of the Madras Legislative Council from 1913 to 1916, Imperial
Legislative Council of India from 1916 to 1919 and the Council of State from
1920 to 1925. Sastri also functioned as India's delegate to the League of
Nations, as member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom and agent to the
Union of South Africa.
The Rochdale
Society of Equitable Pioneers, founded in 1844, was an early consumer
co-operative, and one of the first to pay a patronage dividend, forming the
basis for the modern co-operative movement.Although other co-operatives
preceded them, the Rochdale Pioneers' co-operative became the prototype for
societies in Great Britain. The Rochdale Pioneers are most famous for designing
the Rochdale Principles, a set of principles of co-operation that provide the
foundation for the principles on which co-ops around the world operate to this
day. The model the Rochdale Pioneers used is a focus of study within
co-operative economics.The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers was a group
of 28 that was formed in 1844.On 21 December 1844, they opened their store with a very meagre selection of
butter, sugar, flour, oatmeal and a few candles. By the end of their first year trading, the
Pioneers had 80 members and £182 of capital.
By 1900, the British co-operative movement had grown to 1,439
co-operatives covering virtually every area of the UK.
Back home at
Thiruvallikkeni, the great literate – Srinivasa Shastri established the Madras
Teachers Guild during his term as headmaster of Triplicane High School.He was
one of the pioneers of the Co-operative movement and started India's first
co-operative society, the Triplicane Urban Co-operative Society in 1904. TUCS as it is known is very famous and the
building stands majestic at Thiruvallikkeni Big Street. TUCS,
one of the first cooperatives of the country, was founded in Big Street
in 1904 by VS Srinivasa Sastry, M Singaravelar and others. The Society began
one of the earliest examples of retail in the city and flourished for several
years. Dotted around Big Street are several properties belonging to the TUCS
including its headquarters at Triplicane.
TUCS now
owning more than 40 buildings including some Departmental stores is more than a
century old now. The consumer cooperative society predates even the First
Cooperative Credit Societies Act of 1904, which officially ushered in the
cooperative movement into India, points out an official.Business started at
7.30 a.m. on April 9, 1904. "Our establishment numbered two, a manager and
a salesman, each on Rs 8 a month. The manager was new to business but the
salesman, a Chetti by caste, had good experience in the grocery line. Through
the latter, we got a loan of a pair of scales and a set of weights and measures
for the opening day," recalls the history of the TUCS published on its
silver jubilee.
The credit
for the venture goes to 14 local residents, inspired by the Secretary of the
Cooperative Union of Calcutta, Mr Ambika CharanUkil, who was here in 1903 to
attend the Indian National Congress.The group that came to be known as the
Triplicane pioneers, led by Mr V.S. Srinivasa Sastriar and Mr T.K. Hanumantha
Rao put together Rs 319 - well short of the targeted Rs 1000 - to start the
business. The Triplicane store registered sales of about Rs 90 on the first
day. On some days sales were down to "eight annas" - about fifty paise.
But then `make haste slowly' is a motto of the TUCS.
The
Triplicane TUCS building now sells – groceries, medicines, vegetables, crackers
during Deepavali, cooking gas retail unit and has a Ration shop inside – and at
some point of time sold liquor too before State Govt took over the multi-crore
business marketing.
BUT – TUCS
is famous, possesses infrastructure, known for its quality – but the sales now
are far from encouraging, seen as poor middle class choice, still it is not the
preferred shop for mostTriplicane
residents. Perhaps neither the
Management nor the residents have ever tried to find out the reasons and
improve – meanwhile smaller and bigger shops and now other Departmental stores
mushrooming in and around have had flowing business.
TUCS the
unique Cooperative Society is more than 100 years old – and perhaps only the
antiquity is its unique selling point. The
foundation for the present majestic building was laid by HH the Maharaja of
Bhavnagar, Governor of Madras on 8.12.1949 and building opened by HH Sri Sri
Prakasa, then Governor on 16.10.1952.
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
21st Dec 2021
On this day 177 years ago, a famous Coop Society emerged in Great Britain.
Very nice informations.. Thank you.
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