Coolie Sangha Finances

Self Finance Policy

Building civil society institutions will stay incomplete unless self-financed. The Coolie Sangha is self-financed through voluntary contributions made by its Members. Member Coolie families are encouraged to plan for their posterity from day one of ADATS' involvement. The instrument to achieve this objective are the Sangha Funds

Sangha Funds

Every family contributes a percentage of their declared income, decided by them each year in each village CSU, to their respective Sangha Fund. These include benefits received from ADATS, wage earnings from the Ryots, remittances from children in city jobs, earnings as migrant labourers, crop yields, etc.

In this manner, a total of ₹ 29.99 crore has been collected over the past 32 years.

Spending of Sangha Funds

These collections are spent on various revenue expenses of the village Coolie Sangha Unit like the paying of rents and electricity bills, paying their elected Representatives their bus fares, etc. After ADATS's withdrawal, on completion of our 9 year intervention, Sangha Funds are also used to pay for their functionaries, finance the decentralised health and children's programmes, on legal aid and aid distress, etc.

As per the Trust Deed (legal constitution) of the Coolie Sangha, no payment can be made unless supported by the minutes of the meeting of that particular village CSU where a quorum of two-third has approved. All payments are by cheque and there are no cash transactions in the Coolie Sangha.

Unlike the practice in traditional trade unions, no amount can ever be transferred, automatically or otherwise, to any other CSU or to the Cluster account or to the central Taluk account. Even in the event of a village CSU temporarily dropping out, it's assets and bank accounts stay untouched.

Decentralised Village Level Corpus Fund

The balance unspent amounts at the end of each financial year is placed in Fixed Deposits (FDs) in the name of the respective village Coolie Sangha Unit. These FDs form the decentralised village level corpus fund of the Coolie Sangha. This corpus presently stands at ₹ 7,80,92,218 for 1,257 village CSUs. Interest from each village FD accrues as current year earnings for the respective village CSU, and is used for running the Coolie Sangha Unit.

Another is the current year's gross income and is in 1,257 S.B. accounts of as many village CSUs. This takes the total Sangha Fund (FDs plus current balances) to ₹ 9,50,09,728.01 as on 2 August 2024.

Sangha Tax

For the past 44 years, in all the older CSUs, the practice of contributing Sangha Funds has been formalised through a system of declaring annual incomes and the paying Sangha Tax once a year. So much so that paying Sangha Tax has now become the standard norm for renewing membership in the Consolidation phase and Independent CSUs.

Assets Created by ADATS

Besides Sangha Funds, ADATS has created immovable assets worth over ₹ 30 million in the name of the Coolie Sangha. The Coolie Sangha owns a a fully equipped Training Centre and numerous Community Halls in the Cluster villages. Though built with ADATS funds, the legal titles to these properties stand in the name of the Coolie Sangha.

Financial Reports

The books of accounts of all the CSUs, CCFs, Clusters and Taluks are audited every year by a Chartered Accountant.

Financial Reports (including Audit Reports, Balance Sheets, Income & Expenditure statements and Receipts & Payments statements) are submitted to various statutory authorities, including the Income Tax Department, and to the Union Home Ministry, New Delhi.

These Reports are also presented, in a simplified format, to all the Coolie Sangha functionaries in the villages.