POPULAR STRUGGLES AND MOVEMENTS

Pressure groups

Pressure groups are organizations that attempts to influence govt. policies. But unlike the
political parties the pressure groups do not aim to directly control or share political power.
These organizations are formed when people with common occupations, interests, aspirations
or opinions come together in order to achieve a common objective. There are many indirect
ways in which people can get govt. to listen to their demands or their point of view.
This can be done by forming an organization and undertaking activities to promote
their interest or their viewpoints. These are called Pressure groups.
Pressure groups do not aim to form or run the government. When people of common
occupation, interest aspirations or opinions come together; in order to achieve a common
objective; they form pressure groups. These pressure groups carry on popular movements in
order to meet their objectives. It is not necessary that all the pressure groups go on creating
popular movements rather many of them work in closely knit groups.
Example-
1. Farmers organizations- Bharatiya Kisan Union
2. Trade Unions-AITUC-All India Trade Union Congress
3. Business groups-FICCI-Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industries

These pressure groups are of two types.

SECTIONAL GROUP & PROMOTIONAL/PUBLIC INTEREST GROUPS

Sectional:-
Seek to promote the interest of a particular section/group of society.
Trade unions, business associations& professional lawyers doctors, teachers etc.
They are sectional because they represent a particular section of a society like workers,
employees, businessmen followers of religion caste etc.
The principal concern is the betterment & well being of its members & not of the
society in general.

Public interest group:-

They represent some common or general interest that needs to be defended.
They are also called promotional group as they promote collective and not selective
good.
The members of the organization may not benefit from the cause that the organization
represents. They aim to help groups other than their own members.
In some cases the members of a public interest group may undertake activity they
benefits them as well as others too.
E.g.-:in Nepal Human rights was such organization, & in Bolivia FEDECOR, In India also
we have BAMCEF
BMCEF-(Backward and Minorities Community Employees Federation)is such an
organization that campaigns against caste discrimination, it addresses the problem of
its members who suffer discrimination and its principle concern is with social justice
and social equality for the entire society.

Role of pressure groups

The presence and role of specific Pressure Groups augment and supplement the role and
purposes of the political parties. The role of pressure group is to awaken them from their
slumber. It can be said that pressure groups play the balancing role among various political
ideologies and usually highlight the real concerns of people. The pressure groups do not
themselves want to form the Government, but they try to influence the decisions of the
Government. Thus, every pressure group has three elements:

1. An organized group of people,

2. The common interests and

3. Exercise influence on the decisions of the Government.

In short, the pressure groups cause the legislators, or ministers or bureaucrats to act in a
particular way by offering arguments or employing other techniques as the case may be.

Many people argue in favour of pressure groups. They say that putting pressure on the
government is always positive for the deepening of democracy. The political parties often tend
to forget the real concerns of people; in their pursuit of power.

MOVEMENT GROUPS:
The groups which try to achieve a single objective within a limited time frame or a broad goal in
the very long-term, are known as Movement Groups. Peoples movement word is used to
describe many forms of collective action. It attempts to influence politics rather than
directly take part in the electoral competition.
These movements have loose organization.
Their decision making is more informal and flexible.
They depend more on spontaneous mass participation than an interest group.
Some examples of popular movements in India are: Narmada Bachao Andolan, Movement for
Right to Information, Anti-liquor Movement, Womens Movement, Environmental Movement.

There are two types of movement groups:

SPECIFIC & GENERAL/GENERIC MOVEMENTS

Specific movements:-
They are issue specific movements to achieve single objective.
They work in limited frame of time and thus have usually short active life.
Examples-The Nepalese movement for democracy arose with specific objective of
reversing the kings order that led to suspension of democracy.
In India, Narmada Bachao Andolan is also an example of this.
(This movement started with a specific issue of people displaced by the creation of
sardar dam on the river Narmada. Its objective was to stop the dam from being
constructed. Gradually it became a wider movement that questioned all such big
dams.)

General/Generic movement:-

These movement achieve a broad goal in the long run. These are long term & involve
more than one issue.
There is no single organization that controls or guides such movements. Various
movement groups struggling on specific issues are constituent of this loose
organization which coordinates the activities of a large number of peoples in our
country.

Example

1. The Environmental movement and Womens movements.

2. NAPM-National Alliance for Peoples Movement is an organization of organizations.

CASE STUDY-NEPAL
MOVEMENT FOR DEMOCRACY IN NEPAL
1. Nepal witnessed an extraordinary popular movement in April 2006.
2. The movement was aimed at restoring .Nepal was one of the third wave countries that had
won democracy in 1990.
3. Although the king formally remained the head of the state, the real power was exercised by
popularly elected representatives .King Birendra, who had accepted this transition from
absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy was killed in a mysterious massacre of the royal
family in 2001.King Gyanendra, the king of Nepal ,was not prepared to accept the democratic
rule. He took advantage of the weakness and unpopularity of the democratically elected govt.
4. In February 2005,the king dismissed the then Prime Minister and dissolved the popularly
elected Parliament.
5. The movement of April 2006 was aimed at regaining popular control over the govt.from the
king.
Q.1What were the main features of popular movement in Nepal?
A.1.The movement of April 2006 was aimed at regaining popular control over the govt.from the
king.
1. All major popular political parties in the Parliament formed a Seven Party Alliance(SPA) and
called for a four day strike in Kathmandu,the countrys capital.
2. The protest soon turned into an indefinite strike in which the Maoist insurgents and various
other organizations joined hands.
3. People defied curfew and took to the streets. The security found themselves unable to take
on more than a lakh people to gather almost everyday to demand the restoration of democracy.
4. The no. of protestors reached between 3 to 5 lakhs. On 21st April, they served an ultimatum
to the king. The king had made a few concessions, however, the leaders of the movement
rejected the concessions.
5. They stuck to their demand of restoration of Parliament, power to all-party govt. and a new
constituent assembly.
6. On 24th April 2004,the last day of ultimatum the king was forced to concede all the three
demands.
7.The SPA chose Girija Prasad Koirala as the new Prime Minister of the interim(temporary)
govt..The restored parliament met and passed laws taking away most of the powers of the king.
8.The SPA and Maoists came to an understanding about how the new constituent assembly was
to be elected.
This struggle came to be known as Nepals Second Movement for Democracy.The struggle of the
people of Nepal has been a source of inspiration for democrats all over the world.
Q.2.Mention the three demands of SPA.
A.2.The three demands of SPA were:
a) Restoration of parliament
b) Power to all party govt.
c) New constituent assembly
Q.3.Despite their ideological differences why is it that the following came together in Nepals
popular struggle.
A. Various Political parties.
B. SPA and and Maoists
A.3-a) Various political parties came together for a common aim of removing the king
Gyanendra. They wanted restoration of democracy from dictatorial king although each of them
wanted power for their own party and did not want to give away power to any other political
party.
b) SPA and Maoists have different ideologies because Maoists wanted communalism and SPA
did not want so. However;SPA and Maoists came together for revolting against the dictatorial
king.They wanted their right to freedom and various other rights for which they joined hands to
remove the king.

How do organizations and pressure groups influence politics?

They exert influence in variety of ways.
1. They try to public support and sympathy for their goals and activity by carrying out
information campaign through organizing meetings, file petitions etc., they also make
use of media.
2. They often organize protest activity like strike or disrupting govt. programmes.
Workers organizations, employees associations etc. resort to these methods to force
govt. to take notice of their demand.
3. Business groups often employ professional lobbyist or sponsor expensive
advertisements. Some persons from pressure groups may participate in offi cial bodies
or committees that offer advice to the govt. These groups exert influence on the
political parties without being a party. They have political ideology & political position
on major issues.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POLITICAL PARTIES AND PRESSURE GROUPS

It can take different forms, direct and indirect:

DIRECT
In some instances the pressure groups are either formed or led by the leaders of the
political parties or act as the extended arms of political parties. for eg.trade unions
and students organizations in India are either established by or affi liated to one or the
other major political parties.--most of the leaders of such pressure groups are usually
the activist or leaders of party.
Sometimes political parties grow out of movements. As had happened
in Assam movement led by students against the foreigners came to an end and it led
the formation of ASSOM GANA PARISHAD and the roots of DMK AND AIDMK in Tamil
Nadu can also be traced to the social reform movements during the 1930 and 1940s
INDIRECT:
They often take positions that are opposed to each other, yet they are in negotiation
with each other.
They do raise issues which are taken up by the political parties.
Most of the new leadership of political come from interest or movement groups.

IS THE INFLUENCE OF THE ORGANISATIONS HEALTHY?

It may appear that it is not healthy for the groups that promote interest of one section
to have influence in democracy.
--A democracy must look after the interest of all, not just one section. Also, it may
seem that these groups wield power with responsibility.
--political parties have to face the people in elections, but these groups are not
accountable to the people.
--pressure groups and movements may not get their funds and from people. Some
times with small public support but lots of money they can highjack public opinion in
their favour.
--POSITIVE INFLUENCE
--they have deepened democracy; put pressure on unhealthy activities in democracy.
--govt. can often come under the pressure of rich & powerful group but these public
interest groups and movements perform a useful role of countering this undue
influence and reminding govt. of needs and concerns of ordinary citizens.
--even social interest groups play a valuable role.
--All groups function actively, no single group can achieve dominance over society.
--if one group brings pressure on the govt. the other will counter pressure.
--the govt. hears about what people want.
--this brings a rough balance of power and accommodation of conflicting interest.