CIVICS  CH-5(PRESSURE GROUPS AND MOVEMENTS)

Q1. Describes the movement for democracy in Nepal?               

The problem     Nepal became a democracy in 1990 and King Birendra accepted constitution monarchy, but after his death king Gyanendra denied, dismissed the P.M and dissolved the parliament.

To regain democracy, movt. Started.

·         SPA(Seven Party Alliance) was formed

·         SPA called for a strike. People supported

·         Demands-Restoration of parliament, power to an all party govt., a new constituent assembly.

·         24 April 06,King was forced to accept these three demands, SPA chose G P koirala as new P.M of the interim govt. .

Q2. Describe about Bolivia’s water war?

·         The problem – UN forced Bolivia’s govt to give up control of municipal water supply of the city of Cochabamba. Now under an MNC the price of water goes up(by 4 times).spontaneous protest.

·         Demands of Bolivians-to cancel the MNC’s right to water

·         Role of popular struggles by different communities, FEDECOR, human right communities.

·         Success in the movt. – Contract with MNC cancelled and water supply by the municipality at the same old rates.2006 – FEDECOR came to power.

Q3. Role of Organisation and Mobilization in democratic struggle.

Organization- a group of people in one platform struggling for a common cause

·         People get one common platform

·         It unites the people

·         Gives rise to leadership and team work

·         It directly or indirectly influence the govt.

Mobilization-persuading and convincing people

·         Self motivation

·         Mobilization by leaders

Q4. How r pressure groups different from political parties?

Pressure groups.                          Political parties

      Don’t aim to directly control or        Aim is to capture political power.

 share power. just want to

 influence govt. policies.

      It constitutes people from same      they can have diverse objective.

Occupation, opinion have a

common objective.

      It is not a loose organization.            It is open for all and is a loose org.

      It can be public or sectional               It can be Regional or national parties

Q5. Differences between the following organizations.

Movt                                                               I .G 

Loose organization and mass                             not so loose.

Participation seen.

It is formal and we can join any time.              It is not formal.

Eg .  Narmada Bachao Andolan                       Eg. Lawyer Union

      Sectional interest group                                       public I .G

Their main aim is the better                 they aim for general well being of

and well being of members,not            the society.

Society in general.

Members from same type of people        Members from different types.

Eg. Trade unions.                                                        Eg.    BAMCEF  

Long term movt.                                                                    Short term movt.

Seek to achieve a broad goal in a                    they are issue specific. For a short term.

Very long time.

They have unlimited time       .                       they have limited time.

Have clear leadership and some                      there may be no org. to guide the movt.

organization to guide.

Eg. Environment protection movt.                 Eg. Narmada Bachao Andolan.

Q6. How do pressure groups and movts. exert influence on politics?

      Gain public support-through campaigning, meetings and filling petitions

      They try to influence the media to give more attention to their issue

      Protest activities like Strikes or disrupting govt. programmes.to force it.

      Employing  professional lobbyists to fight for them

      Participating in official bodies and committees of the government to suggest                          

Q7. Describe the relationship between political party and pressure groups .

·         PG are extended hands of PP – most of the trde unions or students unions are either established are affiliated to PPs

      PP growing out of movement-DMK, AIADMK, Asom Gana Parishad

      Indirect relations through negotiation and and dialogue.-They raised new issues

Q8. Is influence of interest groups/ pressure groups healthy or unhealthy?

Healthy influence

      They have deepened democracy, RTI act compulsory edu. Act  and many other acts have been possible due to them only.

      As long as everyone gets the opportunity, putting pressure on rulers is not unhealthy. Activity

      System of checks and balances

      Where different groups function actively, no one group can have dominance.

Unhealthy influence

      It defeats democracy-A democracy should look after the interests of all not one.

      Pressure groups are not accountable to the people as they don’t have to contest election.

      Sometimes pressure groups with small public support but huge amount of money can highjack public discussion in favour of their narrow agenda.

      Negative attitude of the people leads to violence and loss of property