Cooperatives and Rural Development | Syamkrishnan P Aryan

In the second episode of The WELL Labs Show, host Pavan Srinath sits down with Syamkrishnan P Aryan, Senior Program Manager at WELL Labs, to unpack the world of cooperatives - from Amul’s legendary three-tier model to the future of digital platform cooperatives in India.In this episode, Syam shares how milk producers in Anand challenged exploitative supply chains and created the Amul movement, why cooperatives succeed when they stay member-centric, and how cooperative principles can help rural India transition towards more sustainable, resilient and diverse agrarian livelihoods.They explore how today’s farmer collectives, thrift & credit societies, worker cooperatives, and consumer cooperatives function- and why many fail. Syam also explains how WELL Labs is helping farmers in Raichur’s canal-irrigated regions build stronger Water User Cooperatives, federations, and service ecosystems for community hydrology, seed banks, bioresource centres, and more.Syamkrishnan P Aryan is the Program Manager with the Rural Futures programme at WELL Labs. He has around 8+ years of experience in working with governments, social enterprises, Civil Society Organisations, cooperatives and start-ups, including over three years of product management experience in the dairy-tech sector.Pavan Srinath⁠ is the Managing Partner for Communications and Development at WELL Labs. Pavan is a communications and public policy professional who has spent over 14 years working in Bangalore's not-for-profit sector.If you are curious about Amul, farmer producer organisations (FPOs), platform cooperatives, dairy systems, rural economies, or India’s agricultural transformation, this episode is for you.The WELL Labs Show features rich conversations on water, environment, land and livelihoods, from the people and partners of WELL Labs. Hosted by Pavan Srinath, each episode explores complex environmental and social issues and helps you understand the systems and the dynamics better. For all references and further readings related to the episode, visit https://welllabs.org/twls-syamkrishnan-aryan/Subscribe to The WELL Labs show on the WELL Labs YouTube channel @welllabs.Recording by Nabina Chakraborty and Nanditha Gogate. Video editing by Vraj Acharya. Graphics and artwork by Aparna Nambiar. Podcast production and management by Nabina Chakraborty and Pavan Srinath.