Popular Struggles And Movements: Know everything about popular struggles and movements in India. Get revision notes on Popular Struggles and Movements. Learn who led the movement for democracy in Nepal. Understand how pressure groups and movements function in a democracy.
Democracy invariably involves conflict of interest and viewpoints. Those in power have to balance between demands and pressures of various groups. The differences at times are often expressed in organized way. There are different ways by which citizens can influence policies. These include pressure groups and movements, conflict in a democracy is thus resolved through popular struggles. The struggle often takes the form of popular movements such as Narmada Bachao Andolan, movement for Right to Information, Anti liquor movement, women’s movements and environmental movement.
Movements have a loose organization and are informed and inflexible. At times, interest and pressure groups are also formed to promote interests of people. Some popular movements are led by trade unions, business and professional associations. Interest groups representing only a section of society are called sectional interest groups. There are even groups which promote interests of common people at large. These are called promotional or public interest groups.
Popular Struggles and Movements MCQs
(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 Triple 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
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24 MCQs of Polpular Struggles and Movements
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 movements growing into political parties?
(a) NAPM
(b) FEDECOR
(c) BAMCEF
(d) Asom 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
Q.13: Which of the following is a feature of ‘Pressure Groups’?
(a) Directly control political power
(b) Attempt to influence Govt. policies
(c) Have a lore organization
(d) Directly show political power
Q.14: Under which organization’s pressure did the municipality of Cochabamba in Bolivia give up control of water supply to an MNC?
(a) Central Govt.
(b) World Bank
(c) IMF
(d) UNO
Q.15: The head office of FICCI is situated in—
(a) New Delhi
(b) Mumbai
(c) Chennai
(d) Kolkata
CHECK YOUR ANSWER:
1.d) 2.a) 3.b) 4.d) 5.b) 6.b) 7.d) 8.a) 9.d) 10.b) 11.c) 12.c) 13.b) 14.b) 15.a)
Popular Struggles And Movements One Mark Questions
Ans: The aim of the popular movement in Nepal of April, 2006 was to restore the democracy.
2. When did Nepal first opt for democracy?
Ans: Nepal first opted for democracy in 1990.
3. Name the Nepalese King who was no prepared to accept democracy.
Ans: King Gyanendra was not prepared to accept the democracy.
4. What does the term SPA mean?
Ans: SPA means Seven Party Alliance.
5. What were the main demands of the SPA?
Ans: The main demand of SPA was restoration of democracy, power to all party government and a new constituent assembly.
6. Where is Bolivia? What was the reason for the struggle in Bolivia?
Ans: Bolivia is poor country in Latin America. The struggle in Bolivia was against privatization of water. This came to be known as Water war.
7. Name the organisation formed in Bolivia for the struggle in Bolivia.
Ans: FEDECOR was the organisation which was formed to fight for democracy in Bolivia.
8. Define briefly:
a) Interest Groups
Ans: Interest group seeks to promote the interests of a particular section or group of society.
b) Public Interest groups
Ans: Public Interest group are not representing any one section of society, instead they represent some common or general interest that needs to be defended.
c) Pressure Groups
Ans: Pressure groups are organisations that attempt to influence government policies.
d) Political Parties
Ans: Political parties are organisations that aim to directly control or share political powers.
9. Which major party joined the movement for restoring democracy in Nepal?
Ans: Nepalese Communist Party (Maoist), which did not believe in Parliamentary democracy in Nepal.
ONE LINER Notes of Popular Struggles And Movements
2. Pressure groups do not seek to get into power, while political parties do.
3. Organisations that seek to promote the interests of a particular section or groups are called Sectional interest group.
4. Organisations that seek to promote common interest are called Public Interest Groups.
5. Struggle launched for the resolution of a social problem with or without an organisation structure is called Movement.
6. Organisations that mobilise people with a view to win political power are called Political parties.
7. Assam Gan Parishad- Political Party
8. Women movement – Long Term movement
9. Fertilisers’ dealers’ association- Pressure group.
10. Narmada bachao Andolan- Single issue movement.
11. SPA-Seven Party Alliance
12. Maoist – Communist party of China.
13. MNC- Multi national corporation
14. Trade Unions- Sectional Interest groups.
15. NAPM- National Alliance for People’s Movement.
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| Popular Struggles And Movements |
Popular Struggles And Movements 3 MARK Questions
1. Why the people in Bolivia were protesting against the MNC’s?
Ans: The World Bank pressurized the government to give up its control of municipal water supply. The government sold these rights for the city of Cochabamba to a Multi National Company (MNC). The company immediately increased the price of water by four times. Many people received bill of Rs.1000/- in a country where average income is around Rs.5000/-. This led to the Protest by people in Bolivia.
2. What is the difference between a Pressure group and a Political Party?
Ans: Pressure groups are organisations that attempt to influence Government policies but do not aim to directly control or share the political power. A political party is a group of people who come together to contest election and hold power in the government. Pressure groups influence the government in Indirect ways. They undertake activities to promote their interest or the view point.
3. Why and when the movement started in Nepal?
Ans: The democratically elected representatives were exercising the real powers since 1990 when Nepal had won the democracy. King Birendra, who had accepted this transition from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy, was killed in mysterious massacre of the royal family in 2001. King Gyanendra, the new king of Nepal was not prepared to accept the democracy
In February 2005, the king dismissed the popularly elected government and dissolved the popularly elected parliament. The movement of April 2006 was to regain the popular control of the government from the king.
4. Describe the Maoist Party.
Ans: It is a communist party which believes in the ideology of Mao, the leader of the Chinese revolution. They seek to overthrow the government through an armed revolution so as to establish the rule of peasants and workers. The Maoist or the Nepalese Communist Party was involved in the armed struggle against the Nepal government and was successful in establishing its control over large parts of Nepal.
5. Describe the relationship between the pressure groups and political parties. Ans: The relationship between political parties and pressure groups can take different forms, some direct and others very indirect:
a) In some instances the pressure groups are either formed or led by the leaders of political parties or acts as an extended arm of political parties.
b) Sometimes Political parties grow out of movements.
c) In most cases the relationship between parties and interest or movement group is not so direct.
6. What is a movement? Explain the difference between a movement and a pressure group.
Ans: Struggle launched for the resolution of a social problem with or without an organisation structure is called Movement. Movement has a loose organisation. Their decision making is more informal and flexible. They depend more on spontaneous mass participation. Most of the movements are issue specific movements that seek a single objective within limited time frame. Examples are Narmada Bachao Andolan, Movement for Right to Information etc.
Movement differs from pressure group in the organisational set up. Interest groups have a organisation duly elected by its members. Movement like interest groups attempts to influence politics rather than directly take part in electoral competition. The decision making process of the movements is more informal and flexible than the interest groups.
4 MARK Questions of Popular Struggles And Movements
Ans: Similarities in the uprising in Nepal and Bolivia
a) Both these are instances of political conflict that led to political struggle.
b) In both the cases, the struggle involved mass mobilization.
c) Both instances involved critical role of political organisation.
Differences in the uprising in Nepal and Bolivia:
a) The movement in Nepal was to establish democracy, while the struggle in Bolivia involved claims on an elected democratic government.
b) The popular struggle in Bolivia was about specific policy, while the struggle in Nepal was about the formulation of country’s policies.
c) Both these struggles were successful but their impact was at different levels.
2. Give the event and results of the Movement of April, 2006.
Ans: King Gyanendra became the new King of Nepal after King Birendra was killed in a mysterious massacre of the royal family. He was not prepared to accept democratic rule. In February 2005, he dismissed the then Prime Minister and dissolved the popularly elected government.
All the major political parties in the parliament formed a Seven Party Alliance (SPA) and called for four days strike in Kathmandu. This protest was soon turned into an indefinite strike in which Maoist insurgents and various organisations joined hands for
i) restoration of democracy,
ii) power to all party government and
iii) New constituent assembly.
The security forces found themselves unable to take on more than a lakh people who gathered every day to demand restoration of democracy. On 21st April, 2006, the number of protesters reached between three to five lacs and they served an ultimatum to the King. On 24th April, 2006, the last day of the ultimatum, the king was forced to concede all the three demands. The SPA chose Girija Prasad Koirala as the new PM of interim Government.
3. What are the conclusions that one can draw from the movements in Nepal and Bolivia?
Ans: We can draw the following conclusions from the movements in Nepal and Bolivia:
- Democracy evolves through popular struggles. It is possible that some significant decision may take place through consensus and may not involve any conflict at all. But that would be an exception. Defining moments of democracy usually involve conflict between those groups who have exercised power and those who aspire for a share in power. These moments come when the country is going through the transition to democracy, expansion of democracy and deepening of democracy.
- Democratic conflict is resolved by mass mobilization.
- These conflicts and mobilizations are based on new political organisation. There is an element of spontaneity in all such historic moments. But the spontaneous public participation becomes effective with the help of organised politics.
4. Describe Bolivia’s water war. In what way was this movement different?
Ans: The World Bank pressurized the government to give up its control of municipal water supply. The government sold these rights for the city of Cochabamba to a Multi National Company (MNC). The company immediately increased the price of water by four times. Many people received bill of Rs.1000/- in a country where average income is around Rs.5000/-. This led to the Protest by people in Bolivia.
In January, 2000, a new alliance of labour, human rights and community leader organised a successful four day strike. The Government agreed to negotiate and the strike was called off yet nothing happened. However, the police resorted to brutal repression when the agitation again started in February.
Another strike followed in April and the Government imposed martial law. The powers of the people forced the officials of the MNC to flee the city and made the government to concede to all the demands of the protesters. The contract with the MNC was cancelled and water supply was restored to the municipality at old rated.
The movement was different as it was against the elected democratic government. Moreover, Bolivia’s struggle was about one specific policy.
5. Explain how the activities of pressure groups are useful in the functioning of a democratic government?
Ans: The activities of pressure groups are useful in the functioning of a democratic government in the following ways:
- The pressure groups and movements have deepened the democracy. Public Interest groups and movements perform a useful role of reminding the needs and concerns of the ordinary citizens.
- Where different groups function actively, no single group can achieve dominance over the society. If one groups brings pressure on the government to make policies in its favour, another group will bring counter pressure not to make policies in the way first group desires. This leads to balance of power and accommodation of conflicting interests.
6. In what way the pressure groups and movements exert influence on politics?
Ans: Pressure groups and movements influence the politics in various ways:
- They try to gain public support and sympathy for their goals and their activity by carrying out information campaigns, organizing meetings, file petitions, and use the media to draw the attention, and to their issues.
- They often organise protests activities like strikes, dharnas and obstruct government from functioning normally. Employees associations resort to these tactics in order to force the government to take note of their demands.
- Business groups often employ professional lobbyists of sponsor expensive advertisements. They sometimes become members of official bodies and committees and tender advice to the government.
7. How have the pressure groups and movements deepened the democracy?
Ans: The pressure groups have deepened the democracy. Putting pressure on the rulers is not an unhealthy activity in democracy as long as everyone gets this opportunity.
Governments can often come under pressure from a small group of rich and powerful people. Public interest groups and movements perform a useful role of countering this undue influence and reminding the government of the needs and concerns of ordinary citizens.
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