How do pressure groups influence Indian political process? Do you agree with the view that informal pressure groups have emerged as more powerful than the formal pressure groups in recent years?
Pressure groups are interest groups which influence public policies by electioneering, lobbying, propagandizing and correspondence, publicity, public debating, maintaining contact with legislators, etc. They differ from political parties in so far as their limited agendas and lack of aim to capture political power.
Electioneering refers to the support and promotion of favorably disposed persons to the public office.
Lobbying refers to the attempts to influence and win over the support of people in position of power for a particular cause.
Propagandizing refers to the attempt to build public opinion in favor of one or the other policies that benefit a pressure group. In an electoral democracy leaders cannot ignore public sentiment.
Apart from their legal and legitimate methods pressure groups sometimes resort to protest, strikes, violent methods, corruption etc.
India has witnessed increased public participation since independence. Recent trends have pointed to the emergence of informal pressure groups. Mobilization based on specific agendas points has found significant traction among the masses. Such informal groupings have appealed to many and caused a significant swing of public opinion. The anti- corruption wave witnessed can be attributed to this.
Some informal groups have resorted to the use of illegitimate and illegal methods. On the up side, informal groups have also depended democratic participation across the nation. Some informal groupings have evolved into formal groups or even political parties as was witnessed in the ‘India Against corruption’ movement. However, informal pressure groups have lacked the institutional and organizational build up to triumph over the formal pressure groups.