CBSE - Popular Struggles and Movements

Pressure groups and movements exert influence on politics in a variety of ways.
→ They try to gain public support and sympathy for their cause by carrying out information campaigns, organising meetings, filing petitions, etc.
→ By organising strikes and disruptions, they seek to make the government take note of their demands.
→ They also influence decision-making by lobbying.
→ The issues raised by them often influence the policies of political parties.

The relationship between political parties and pressure groups can take different forms.
→ Pressure groups are often formed and led by politicians and political parties. Most trade unions and students' organisations in India are either established by, or affiliated to one or the other major political party.
→ Political parties sometimes grow out of movements. Parties like DMK and AIADMK were formed this way.
→ Many a times, the issues raised by pressure or movement groups are taken up by political parties, leading to a change in the policies of the parties.

Pressure groups help in the deepening of democracy. As long as everyone gets the
opportunity, putting pressure on the rulers is not an unhealthy activity in a democracy. Governments can often come under undue pressure from a small group of rich and powerful people. Pressure groups perform a useful role of countering this undue influence of reminding the government of the needs and concerns of ordinary citizens.

A pressure group is an organisation which attempts to influence government policies through protests and demonstrations. Pressure groups are formed when people with similar opinions get together for similar objectives. Examples of pressure groups are FEDECOR and BAMCEF.

A pressure group is an organised or an unorganised body that tries to promote its interests. They fight and try to achieve a common objective. Political parties contest elections because their aim is to achieve political power. They have more than one interests, they have their own ideology. They represent various interests and have their own way of achieving their aims.

sectional interest

Which among the following is the special feature that distinguishes a pressure group from a political party?
(a) Parties take political stances, while pressure groups do not bother about political issues.
(b) Pressure groups are confined to a few people, while parties involve larger number of people.
(c) Pressure groups do not seek to get into power, while political parties do.
(d) Pressure groups do not seek to mobilise people, while parties do.

Answer

(c) Pressure groups do not seek to get into power, while political parties do.

	List I	List II
1	Organisations that seek to promote the interests of a particular section or group	Α. Movement
2	Organisations that seek to promote common interest	Β. Political parties
3	Struggles launched for the resolution of a social problem with or without an organisational structure	C. Sectional interest groups
4	Organisations that mobilise people with a view to win political power	D. Public interest groups

Answer

	List I	List II
1	Pressure group	Α. Narmada Bachao Andolan
2	Long-term movement	Β. Asom Gana Parishad
3	Single issue movement	C. Women�s Movement
4	Political party	D. Fertilizer dealers� association

Answer

Consider the following statements about pressure groups and parties.
A. Pressure groups are the organised expression of the interests and views of specific social sections.
B. Pressure groups take positions on political issues.
C. All pressure groups are political parties.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
(a) A, B and C
(b) A and B
(c) B and C
(d) A and C

Answer

(b) A and B

Q.1: - What did Nepal become a constitutional monarchy?
(a) In 1960 (b) In 1970 (c) In 1980 (d) In 1990

Q.2: - What was the aim of the extraordinary movement Nepal witnessed in 2006?
(a) Restoring Democracy (b) Abolishing untouchability
(c) Bringing down military rule (d) Division of Nepal

Q.3: - Who become the new Prime Minister of Nepal in 2006?
(a) Beni Prasad (b) Girija Prasad Koirala
(c) Gyanendra (d) Himmat Prasad Koirala

Q.4: - Which organization was setup by the Nepalese people to restore
democracy in Nepal?
(a) The Dual Alliance (b) The Tripple Alliance
(c) The Nepal Congress (d) The Seven Party Alliance

Q.5: - On which day was the king of Nepal (King Gyanendra) forced to concede
all the demands of SPA?
(a) On June 1, 2001 (b) On April 24, 2006
(c) On July 24, 2006 (d) On June 1, 2007

Q.6: - What was the Bolivian protest called?
 (a) Bolivian war (b) Bolivia’s Water war
 (c) Water for Bolivia (d) Bolivian crisis

Q.7: - To which of the following countries does FEDECOR belong?
 (a) Nepal (b) Northern Ireland (c) Belgium (d) Bolivia

Q.8: - Which political party came to power in Bolivia in 2006?
 (a) Democratic Party (b) Socialist Party
 (c) Liberal Party (d) Conservative Party

Q.9: - Which of the following is an example of moments growing into political parties?
(a) NAPM (b) FEDECOR
(c) BAMCEF (d) Assam Gana Parishad

Q.10: - Which of the following can be classified as a type of public interest group?
(a) Trade unions (b) FEDECOR
(c) Doctors (d) Teachers

Q.11: - When was the king Birendra of Nepal Killed?
(a) In 1999 (b) In 2000 (c) In 2001 (d) In 2002

Q.12: - How did people protest against the “Kittiko – Hochchiko” movements?
(a) By planting more eucalyptus trees.
(b) By plucking more trees 
(c) By plucking eucalyptus trees and planting other saplings
(d) By plucking all eucalypts trees on the 30,000 hectare piece of land 

Answer Key of Multiple Choice Questions
1. ( d ) 2. ( a ) 3. ( b ) 4. ( d ) 5. ( b ) 6. ( b ) 7. ( d )
8. ( a ) 9. ( d ) 10. ( b ) 11. ( c ) 12. ( c )

Nepal won the democracy in 1990.
 Two Features:-
1. The King formally remained the head of the state; the real power was exercised by popularly elected representatives.
2. 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

1. The King was forced to concede all the thru demands of the protesters.
 2. The SPA chose Girija Prasad Koirala as the new P.M. of the interim government.
 3. The restored parliament met and passed laws taking away most of the power of the king.

1. Both these are instances of political conflict that led to popular struggles.
2. In both cases, the struggle involves mass mobilizations public demonstration of mass support clinched the dispute.
3. Both instances involved the critical role of political organization.

1. The protest against water privatization in Bolivia was not led by any political party. It was led by  FEDECOR.
 2. This organization comprised of local professionals, including engineers and environmentalists.
3. They were supported by a federation of farmers who relied on irrigation, middle class students, confederation of factory workers, unions and the city’s growing population of the homeless street  children.

1. A pressure group is an organized or an unorganized body that seeks to promote its  interests while a political party seeks to attain political power by contesting elections.
 2. Pressure groups are formed by the people of common interests, occupations and  opinions while political parties are forced on the basic of ideology and vision.
3. A pressure group represents their own single interests while political parties  represents various interests.

A public interest group is a group that promotes the interests of the people of the society. There interests can
be of a particular section of the society or of the entire society in general. Their activities benefit the entire
society and not just a particular section of the society.
 
 II Part
 1. They organize meetings and try to gain the public support for their cause.
 2. They try to influence the media by drawing its attention to their issues.
 3. They sometimes organized strikes and dharnas to voice their interests.
 E.g.: - Bolivia organization FEDECOR and government employees movement called BAMCEF are some examples of public interest group.

Sectional interest groups refer to the interest groups that seek to promote the interest of a particular section or
a group of society. Trade unions, business associations and professional bodies (lawyers, doctors, teachers
etc.) are some examples of sectional interest groups—
 Part- II
1. They aim to help groups other than their own members for example a group fighting against bonded
labour fights not for itself but for those who are suffering under such bondage.
2. Some times these organization represents the common or general interest of the society.
3. They also exert pressure on the government to meet their demands.

1. The Nepal movement took place in April 2006 which was aimed at restoring democracy.
2. The Nepalese king Birendra had accepted massacre of the royal family in 2001.
3. The new king Gyanendra refused to accept the democratic rule.
4. In February 2005 the king dismissed the P.M. and devolved the popularity elected parliament.
5. In against of the dismissed of P.M. all the major parties in the parliament formed SPA and called for a  fear days strike in Katmandu.
6. This strike turned into an indefinite strike after the involvement of Maoist with 3 to 5 lakh people.
7. On 24th April 2006, the king was forced to concede the demand of people. The SPA chore Girija Prasad  Koirala as the new P.M. of the interim govt.

Yes, putting pressure on the rulers is not an unhealthy activity in a democracy as long as every one gets
this opportunity because –
1. A democracy must look after the interest of all not just one section.
2. These groups help the people of a particular section to voice their interest a demands.
3. Two pressure groups of different ideology helps in maintaining a balance between the demands of various groups in the society.
4. Pressure groups and movements have deepened democracy in the world. Thus some people may criticized the role of these groups as these groups promote the interest of their sections and not accountable to the people in general.

1. Bolivia is a poor country in Latin America the world bank pressurized the government to give up its  control of municipal water supply.
2. The govt. sold these tights for the city of Cochabamba to a MNC.
3. The MNC immediately increased the price of water by four times.
4. Many people received water bills of Rs- 1000 where as their average monthly income was Rs. 5000/ month
6. The agitation started again in February but the police restored to brutal repression.
7. Another strike followed in April and the govt. imposed martial law.
8. But the power of the people forced the officials of the MNC and the govt. to concede to all the demands of the protesters.
9. Finally the contract with the MNC was cancelled and water supply was restored to the municipality at old rates. struggle of Bolivia

1. Universal Character
 2. Organized body.
 3. Having influence on the public policies.
 4. Lack of responsibility.
 5. Non partism
 6. Extra constitutional organization.