INTEREST GROUPS

Interest Groups and Pressure Groups

Interest and pressure groups in India are not a new political phenomena. They have been in existence from colonial period. In fact the Indian National Congress in its origin itself was a pressure group making a number of specific demands on the British administration such as increase in number of Indians recruited to the administrative services, more quota for Indian students in England, etc. In due course there also emerged trade unions, farmers associations, business associations, youth organisations and groups of castes and religions demanding protection of their specific interests. They were also used to mobilise support for the national movement. Today, they are a growing force in Indian politics. Of course, the issues with which groups are concerned and many of the tactics that they use in pursuit of their aims, have been changing, but the broad principles of pressure group politics are the same.

Since independence, when government activity has spread into the spheres of social welfare, industry, and economic planning, the State has been inevitably drawn into closer direct contact with more people, and more groups of people, thus, giving a greater impetus to the activities of organised groups.

Political system also provides

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8 8 DEMOCRACY IN INDIA : ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

considerable freedom to different segments of society to make demands on the systems. There are also cases when a pressure group that emerges tends to produce a counter pressure group thereby increasing their number.

The communication revolution leading to the growth of mass media and efficiency and respectability of public relations also means that pressure groups have greater facilities for influencing public opinion. So more and more interests tend to form organised groups. Thus, the variety of groups in India today is immense.

These groups can be placed into four broad categories i.e. Social or Identity Based Groups, Associational or Professional Groups, Institutional Groups, and Ad hoc Groups.

S

OCIAL OR

I

DENTITY

B

ASED

G

ROUPS During colonial period to counter the onslaught of English education and Western value system, to demand proper share in the new professional and government jobs, and to protect social and cultural interests in the emerging politics of numbers in the young democratic institutions, there came up a number of groups based on community interests (religion, caste, language, ethnicity, region, etc.). In some cases British administration itself encouraged formation of such groups to counter some of the demands of national movement. After independence, in the context of democratic process and competition for scarce resources, such groups have

increased significantly. The chief characteristic of social or identity groups is that they are embedded in the social fabric. In a sense their membership is based on birth rather than professional or class basis. These groups can further be divided into two. One which are primarily concerned with community service and the other which use communal or social mobilisational in political and economic competition. In the first type we can mention DAV Educational Institutions, Rama Krishna Mission, Chief Khalsa Dewan, Singh Sabhas, Muslim Educational Trusts like Vakkam Maulavi Foundation, Al-Ameen Education T rust, Anglo-Indian Christian Association, Jain Seva Sangh and many more of these type which are engaged in the educational, social and economic upliftment of their communities. For that purpose they seek financial, technical and other types of help from government and put pressure for that without prejudice to other communities or encouraging communal or social conflicts. In recent years a large number of caste and sub-caste associations have also come up.

Though most of such associations are loosely organised, they are becoming very important basis of interest articulation. Some of the groups originally formed as ethnic or caste associations have also got transformed into political parties. Anti-Brahamin movement in Tamil Nadu in due course of time became Dravida Kazhagam(DK) and later Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). The Scheduled Caste Federation later expanded into the Republican

8 9

Party of India. You have already read that the origin of present day Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was from All India Backward and Minorities Communities Employees Federation.

Other type of identity groups are those which are engaged in assertion of special status, superiority or preference for their communities vis-à-vis other communities. Jamat-I-Islami among the Muslims, Rashtriya Sawayamasevak Sangh (RSS) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) among Hindus, All India Sikh Students Federation among Sikhs, etc. are such groups. These groups are engaged not only in the welfare of their communities but also in transfer of political process according to their value systems. There are also various Language Associations promoting the development of languages.

A

SSOCIATIONAL OR

P

ROFESSIONAL

G

ROUPS

Associational or Professional groups are the ones that are formed by people who come together to pursue shared professional interests.

They are sometimes also called protective or functional groups. Trade unions, business associations, trade associations, professional bodies, etc., are prime examples of this type of groups. Their unique character is derived from the fact that they represent a section of society like workers, employers, consumers, etc. It can also be said that these groups are based on modern economic and vocational

interests. The largest and more important of these are trade and business groups, trade unions and farmers and peasant organisations.

B

USINESS

G

ROUPS

Business and industry in any society is the most articulated and active section in terms of protection of interests and influencing policy. In India they started organising themselves during colonial period itself. At that time while they were in favour of keeping themselves aloof from confrontation politics of the Congress led national movement, nevertheless, they in many ways supported the constructive activity of the Congress and cause of freedom. In independent India, business and industry had to work in the context of development policies and planning. They had both opportunities to grow and apprehensions of restrictions because of licence and control regimes envisaged in the then adopted mixed economy strategy.

Therefore, they felt a strong need to organise to put pressure on the government in their favour. As a result various types of business and commercial associations, emerged at regional and national level. Important among them are Chambers of Commerce and Industries and their federations like Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). The FICCI today is the main spokesman of Indian capitalism and big industry in particular.

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9 0 DEMOCRACY IN INDIA : ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

Through these bodies, the big business have sustained access to the executive and bureaucracy for lobbying while the policy is being made and implemented. Ownership and operational control of the means of production give them tremendous lever to influence the governmental policies.

With their strong organisation and enormous money power they have gained an important share in preparing and implementing decisions on matters of financial and industrial policies. As a result, despite the official ideology of the state for a socialist pattern of society, the big business groups through its insistent pressure has been able to make itself a legitimate and powerful sector. With liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation, role of business has increased further. They can now better handle unfavourable policies by cultivating personal contacts, paying bribes, using press and electronic media and employing professional lobbyists.

T

RADE

U

NIONS

The labour, almost all over the world has emerged as an important organised class. A significant role in this regard has been played by the emergence of Marxist and socialist ideologies and parties. While in some countries development of workers organisation has taken long time in India, the trade union movement has developed with an astonishing speed. During Colonial period both the Communist Party and the Congress helped organisation of workers in a significant way as natural

opponents of colonial oppression. Not only trade unions were established in factories and regions, but efforts were made to organise them at national level also. In 1920 All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) was established under Congress influence. In 1929 this fell in the hands of the Communists.

After independence, policy of rapid industrialisation, establishment and growth of a very large public sector, employing millions of persons, socialist rhetoric of the government and decision by Communist parties to participate in election, all provided conditions conducive for the growth of Trade Union movement. Various political parties also started sponsoring their own trade union federations or centres, like Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), etc.

The trade union movement in India over the last five decade or so has definitely come to occupy its own place in Indian social process. Consequently, the working class has been able to exert significant pressure at the policy formulation level and their strength is well recognised by the political parties and the government. Although poorly financed and under outside leadership, they can be extremely vocal in their demands and militant in their methods.

Also because of the concentration of industries in certain regions, they can provide significant vote-strengths for the parties. The organised working class, therefore, has been able to obtain

9 1

quite a few successes in bettering their economic and social conditions. The trade unions by their activities have also helped in creating social and political awareness among workers.

Trade unions are still among the best organised groups in the society. However, the process of globalisation is posing a serious challenge for the working class.

Trade unions therefore, have to rejuvenate themselves in their new role in emerging new economic system.

F

ARMERS AND

P

EASANT

G

ROUPS It is well known that majority of India’s population lives in villages and Indian economy remains basically an agricultural economy. At the time of independence, it was essential to improve the agricultural production on the one hand and introduce land reforms on the other. Various policies and programmes starting with the abolition of Zamindari system, limited land reforms, green revolution, mobilisation of different sections of rural population in electoral polities have aroused awareness and consciousness among rural people as also created new groups with different interests. These in turn have resulted in the emergence of organised groups and movements for protection and consolidation of interests. Many observers call these groups under a common terminology of “Kisan Groups”

or Agricultural movements. In fact, there are no common kisan interests.

These are different for different categories. In a broader sense, we

can divide Kisan Groups into two the farmers associations and peasant groups.

F

ARMERS

A

SSOCIATIONS

Farmers agitations have been in the news for the past several years. Since the late 1970s, farmers have been organising themselves in associations and gaining prominence by focusing attention on higher prices for agricultural products, lowering electricity rates, easier terms of credit for agricultural investment, subsidies for fertilisers, etc. Important among these are the Bhartiya Kisan Union in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab, the Shetkari Sangathan in Maharashtra, and the Karnataka Rajya Ryota Sangh. At the centre of these is the discontentment of rich and middle level farmers.

The roots of these farmers’

movements can be traced to the expansion of the Green Revolution in agricultural strategies and the assertion of political power by rich peasants through mass mobilisation of the peasantry under their leadership.

These movements, in general, reflect new levels of politicisation among the middle level farmers, clamouring for greater concessions and share in political parties. For quite some time, these movements projected a non-political image of theirs by staying away from political parties and constitute a pressure group from outside. However, of late they have realised that direct exercise of power may be more effective than indirect influence. So they have also

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9 2 DEMOCRACY IN INDIA : ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

started participating in or allying with parties. The success of these movements have prompted political parties to give greater attention to agricultural issues in their political programme.

P

EASANTS MOVEMENT

A large part of India’s population engaged in agriculture consists of small farmers, share croppers and labourers.

After independence, it was assumed that because of their number, in democracy the rural poor will have political salience and will increasingly be able to place demands on the political and economic systems of the Republic. However, this did not happen.

The nature of the State, colonial bureaucracy and lack of confidence by political parties in fact distorted the aims and objectives of the developmental strategies in favour of rich, upper classes and urban areas.

Various political parties and association have been mobilising these peasants by educating them of their exploitation and assuring their amelioration. Thus, there started emerging organisation of agricultural labourers and small farmers. They have come up as Kisan Sabhas and various agricultural unions. The basic purpose of these is to strive to improve the economic condition of all those who earn their livelihood by toiling in agricultural fields and related work. The peasant movement, however, is not very well organised. It remains fragmented.

Nevertheless, consciousness and awareness among the rural poor and

peasants is increasing. They have started realising the power of their vote and united action. But the battle for these groups is hard and long.

Particularly in view of recent economic reforms, arrival of multinational companies and the process of globalisation, the peasants and rural, people have hard tasks ahead. Much will depend how political parties steer Indian democracy.

C

AUSE

G

ROUPS

The main purpose of these groups is to advance a general social objective like preservation of environment, protection of human rights and civil liberties, abolition of capital punishment, introduction of electoral reforms, prevention of violence against women, etc. These groups are also known as public interest groups to emphasise that they promote collective social interest, rather than selective group interest. These groups may or may not be well organised. Their success depends more on public and media support than by lobbying. You must have heard about groups opposing construction of big dams, removal of jhuggis, opposing child labour, bonded labour, anti-dowry etc. Such groups are becoming quite popular.

I

NSTITUTIONAL

G

ROUPS

Institutional groups are those groups which are within the government and attempt to exert influence or pressure through the machinery of government itself. Bureaucracies and the military

9 3

are the clearest examples of institutional groups. Within groups we hear of IAS, IPS, IFS lobbies, etc. Similarly within military often there are reports of pressure from Army, Air force and Navy, etc. for some preferences on certain matters. Such groups are particularly important in non-democratic regimes where autonomous groups are generally suppressed. But they remain active in democratic regimes also as a part of competition between elites. In India also they are quite active though their activities are not much public.

They try to influence the policies with regard to allocation of resources in the areas of their preferences, for importance to be given to their role, etc.

They indirectly also help other groups by supporting their cause.

A

D HOC

G

ROUPS

Finally, there are groups which come into existence to pressurise the government for a specific objective at a time. Therefore, they remain active or even organised only till that objective is achieved. Examples of these include groups organised to get a railway service in a city, getting a book or an activity banned, opening of a school, college or hospital, etc. Such groups can be very active for a short period.

Some of these may survive and extend their activities as cause groups.

H

G

ROUPS

A

The methods by which pressure groups seek to influence the process of government are many. A group generally, does not confine to a single strategy or try to influence through just

one channel of influence. At the same time, methods vary from country to country according to the nature of political system and type of society.

Similarly, the nature of the group and the resources at its disposal are crucial determinants of its political strategy.

The resources include public support for the group’s goals, the size of its membership, its financial strength and organisational capacities, personal or institutional links with governmental bodies and personnel and political parties, etc.

The various groups in India operate within the federal and parliamentary nature of the polity. The interest groups also approach the authorities informally at the legislative as well as party level. The methods they use for the purpose include sending of memoranda, personal deputations, organising social gathering with those in position of authority, lobbying with the MPs and MLAs. Interest group pressure is sometimes exerted through political parties. Relationship between political parties and trade unions is a typical example of this. Similarly, some youth groups are also openly associated with parties like National Students Union of India (NSUI) with Congress and Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) with Bhartiya Janata Party.

In order to gain governmental attention and redress, some groups often resort to mass demonstrations, hartals, strikes and civil disobedience.

This is particularly true of the interest groups of the students, teachers,

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9 4 DEMOCRACY IN INDIA : ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

government servants and various trade unions. Of late even small and medium peasants have organised themselves into kisan rallies, rasta roko and other types of stirs. This gets public attention and does make the government respond to such actions.

A very important mechanism for pressure groups is the use of media — both press and electronic. In the present day world, media has become a very significant means for creating and articulating public opinion. People get much influenced by the news and views expressed in newspapers or television.

Many a times, people start feeling as if the issue is of their own interest, though it may be against. The best example of this is the influence advertisements are having on our consumption pattern and felt needs. If advertisements can influence people so much the opinions of experts considered to be objective and neutral are likely to change people’s thinking much more. Pressure groups therefore, try to influence the experts, news makers and producers to give more coverage to their activities and more importantly to present their case as if it is in public interest in general. Moneyed people have started their own newspapers; they are putting enormous money in private radio and TV channels. All these are playing an important role in influencing decision making.

The influence that an interest or pressure group can exercise depends on several factors. An important factor is groups own organisational strength

In document Ncert XII Political Science Democracy India Old Syllabus (Page 87-96)