The development history of the world has indicated that with all the might of the government and its various developmental schemes and programmes, it is ultimately the 'people' who have to come together, organize themselves and make collective effort on self help and mutual-help basis for there alround development. Cooperation and co-operative have been a political vehicles for development at the grass root level ever since the man learnt to live a social animals. The intention of the state governments at the initial stages was to give adequate boost to cooperatives with their active involvement and participation. However, in the long run, in many cases this association became more 'SAKARI' than 'SAHAKARI' (more government�s movement than people�s movement).

This trend continues both at the apex level and at the grass roots level, as well, with few expectations. Very little little resources of it own are available for any other long-term development strategies. The relief and development packages which have been promised by the successive Central Governments have not materialized, there by slowing the total development process in the region which have has eroded the confidence of the people. Added to the same the reluctance on the part of concerned authorities to be more enterprising mostly due to lack of resources, conditional ties of financing and development in the North-East, the programmes imposed on the region by outside agencies and also the unpreparedness of the people of the region for extensive development process, identity crises, etc. are some of the major factors which have to come in the way of the all round development of the region.

The State Cooperative Banks with two tier structure in the region have been largely non-viable and with the dormant grass root level societies, the credit operations at the level have almost come to a stand still. The demand for production credit is next to nothing and even states like Assam, which has fairly a better scope for agriculture advances, is also facing the similar situation. In Meghalaya serious attempts are being made through the efforts of the Apex Bank to revive the working of the grass root level societies on a pilots basis. A scheme is being planned to develop few the societies into 'Mini Bank' and enhance their business level by creating additional credit absorption capacity. A reform package for service cooperative Societies for their alround development is also being proposed.

The northeastern region comprising of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram considered as seven sisters has largely remained inviolate by the modern waves of development. With Sikkim as the youngest sister of the region for development will significant. The successive state governments and the government at the center have made umpteen attempts to develop the region with adequate development inputs but the degree and intensity of these efforts have not made the expected impact on the socio economic lives of the people in the region. The area largely being land locked and with insignificant development of infrastructure facilities, the implementation of various programmes in its letter and spirit still remains a distant dream even after more than 50 years of Indian Independence.

The entire North Eastern Region is known for its forest wealth, potentialities for agriculture, horticulture, floriculture, etc. but improvements in these sectors have not received adequate attention and importance to convert into appropriate economic opportunities. Further, mineral wealth such as coal, petroleum products lime stone, manganese, uranium, etc still to be exploited to their fullest girth. The banking industry and the banking habits as well as the knowledge about the advantages of banking, etc. are yet to be fully assimilated into the main stream of development in the region. Due to inadequate development of marketability and lack of appropriate backward and forward linkages,etc the economy of the region still persists on theory of production for consumption rather than creation of marketable surplus, etc.

The cooperative credit opened its avenues in the region for agriculture and allied sector with the creation of states during the last 3 to 5 decades, whereas the same is as old as 100 years in other parts of the country. Therefore, the progress of the cooperation and cooperative credit sector in particular in the region is 60/70 years behind the cooperative movement in the country. The cooperative Movement which started with the establishment of 'Gaonlia Banks' in 1912 in Assam led to the establishment of 'Assam Cooperative apex Bank' in 1948 with 7 District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBS) at the intermediary level and Gaonlia Banks/PACS at grass root level. With the reorganization of the erstwhile Assam State Cooperative bank over a period of time, the cooperative movement spread to other states in the region.

The country�s and the region�s youngest state Cooperative Bank was established in Sikkim started banking operations in 1998.

The Assam Cooperative Apex Bank, which had three-tier structure, was reorganized in 1978 and converted into a two-tier structure. Though there is one District Central Cooperative Bank, for all practical purposes, the cooperative credit structure in Assam has a two-tier structure. All other states in the region have two-tier structure with the State Cooperative Bank at the apex level and the grass tool level societies in the form of Primary Agriculture Credit societies, service Cooperative Societies, LAMPS, farmer service societies, etc. at the grass root level. The state of Assam, Tripura and Manipur has separate Long Term Cooperative credit structure in the form of Argil. And rural Development Bank (ARDBS) whereas in other States the short Term Cooperative credit structure itself is taking care of the long term credit portfolios.

There is considerable presence of Commercial Banks in the region through branches, Regional Rural Banks (RRBS) and their branches as well as Urban Cooperative Banks. However, they are mostly concentrated in the urban and semi-urban areas with deposit mobilization as their main business portfolio resulting in lowest C.D Ratio.

On the other hand, the cooperative credit structure is an important banking agency service mostly in rural areas of the region and providing banking facilities in far flung and remote corners if these state, often under difficult and adverse situation. With the density population as low as 20 per sq. km. In Arunachal Pradesh as high as 286 per sq. km.in Assam, in per 1991 census, the cooperative banking in the region often has not been a viable proposition. Nevertheless, the role played by the cooperative banking industry in the region and it development is of utmost importance and for a long time it has been the only relevant and viable banking facility.

According to the latest statistics, the eight state Cooperative banks in the region have 214 branches,6132 grass root level societies. There are also three agriculture and rural development banks with 25 branches and PLDBs in the long-term cooperative credit structure region. The base level cooperative organizations are generally weak both organizationally and financially. As a result, they have not been able to fulfill the actual role and responsibilities assigned to them.

Apathy on the part of policy makers, absence of cooperative leadership, lack of technical knowhow and training among the cooperative personal, lack of awareness among the people about cooperatives, cooperation and advantages of the cooperative system, etc over the years have led to stunted growth of the cooperative movement and cooperative structure in the entire North Eastern Region In spite of an average of 25 years of cooperation and cooperative development in the region, the actual spirit of cooperation based on its renewed thrust is yet to be established.

Cooperatives offer enormous opportunities and can effectively address to the task of socio economic development of the region in the general and Meghalaya in particular. Therefore, the cooperatives need to be revived and developed as a tangible means for total revamping of the socio economic system in the region.

The trust of the people is clearly reflected in the performance of the bank and their performance is well recognized by the Meghalaya Government, higher financing agencies and developmental organisations at the national level and the bank has been the recipient of the national level performance award every year since 1988, latest being the 'Alround performance Award' from NABARD for the year 1996-97.