Although cooperation is viewed as an Organization for the promotion of economic interests of its members, it does not confine itself only the economic aspect of life. It permeates the social aspect of life and aims at establishing a new Democratic social order based on freedom, fraternity, equality and Equity where people live in harmony, caring and sharing like a family, where there is a unity of spirit and a common economic bond and where people have the freedom to shape their destiny. Thus, cooperation alone has both economic and social aims. Moreover, contributions of cooperatives in Rural areas are omnipresent and appear forefront since cooperatives in India have covered cent percent of villages under its umbrella. It is imperative to mention here that Cooperatives have enhanced the socio-economic conditions of rural people through provision of Agricultural credit, input supply, agricultural processing, Agriculture infrastructure, Storage and warehousing, market information, extension services, Education and training, agricultural implements and equipments and the like. No doubt, cooperatives have made imprints in rural areas through its economic contributions by nurturing social values. In this broad context, a query on the social contributions and achievements of Cooperatives is very relevant and it is necessary to assess peoples' Perception on the social impact of cooperatives. Do people view cooperatives as Institutions for social betterment or merely as an economic institutions where goods and services be availed or vice versa? Do people realize social Benefits of cooperation? Do they realize that cooperatives have contributed for human socialization? Do they derive democratic benefits of cooperatives? Do they realize that cooperatives have brought social outlook among people by providing human values? Do cooperatives promote democratic Leadership and participative actions through self Help through Mutual help? Do cooperatives provide Empowerment benefits? Do weaker sections feel secured out of cooperatives? Whether people derive social benefits of cooperatives out of their cooperative membership characteristics or not? These and many other issues have been addressed through the present book.

About the Author
Dr. R. Karunakaran (1966), working as Assistant Professor in the Department of Cooperatives, Faculty of Business and Economics, Hawassa University Ethiopia since October 2004. He has 16 years of experience in teaching, research, training, extension and industry in the Fields of Cooperation and Cooperative Management. He started his Career as Field Investigator in Tamilnadu Government sponsored project executed by the Participatory Appraisal Unit of Gandhigram Rural University, India and then worked as Manager of Gandhigram Rural University Staff and Students Cooperatives Stores Ltd for about six months Later he joined as Lecturer in the Department of Cooperation, Gandhigram Rural University and continued his service until September 2004. He has published more than 26 Research and Conceptual based papers in reputed Indian and International journals. He has published research papers in the edited Books viz., Small Scale Industries-Problems, New World through Cooperatives and Information Technology-Its Application in Small Scale Industries He is co-author of a book entitled, Gender Issues in Cooperatives published recently. Besides.his Teaching assignment, he has associated in many major and minor research projects funded by Governmental and Non-governmental agencies in India and Ethiopia and imparting training to various sectors of Cooperative officials in Ethiopia His research project entitled, "Marketing Performance of Coffee Farmers Cooperatives in Ethiopia" funded by the Ministry of Science, Ethiopia received high degree of appreciation among academia and cooperative organizations. He has also conducted Two Months Short Term Training Programme to the Officials of Cooperatives which was sponsored by Organization for Rehabilitation and Development in Amhara (ORDA) an International Non Governmental organization based at Ethiopia. He is a member of Ethiopian Human Rights Council and Associate Member of Ethiopian Economic Association. He has also been serving as foreign examiner to PhD theses of several universities of India. His areas of specialization are General Management, Marketing Management, Human Resource Management, Cooperation, Cooperative Management, Cooperative Accounting and Auditing, Participatory Approaches in Cooperatives, and Training Techniques and Methods. He has exposure of visiting several Countries as academician and collaborator His current areas of research are Impact Assessment of Cooperatives, Functional Areas of Cooperative Management, and Cooperative Marketing. Currently he is working on developing Post Graduate Curriculum on Cooperative Leadership and Development which going to be launched in the Academic year of 2009/10 in Hawassa University, Ethiopia.