 PG is a group of people who are organised actively for promoting & defending their common interest.

 It is called so as it attempts to bring a change in the public policy by exerting pressure on the govt.
 It acts as a liaison b/w govt. and its members. PG are also called interest groups or vested groups.

CHARACTERISTICS OF PRESSURE GROUPS

1. Shared beliefs or interests : Their members are united by either a shared belief in a particular cause
or a common set of interests.
2. Protection of interests : Each pressure group organises itself keeping in view certain interests and
thus tries to adopt the structure of power in the political systems
3. Use of combination of Modern and Traditional Means - Modern means includes adoption of
techniques like financing of political parties, sponsoring their close candidates at the time of elections
and keeping the bureaucracy also satisfied. Their traditional means include exploitation of caste,
creed and religious feelings to promote their interests.
4. Narrow issue focus - In some cases, they may focus on a single issue (for instance opposing a planned
road development).
5. External to the Govt. : Pressure groups do not make policy decisions, but rather try to influence those
who do (the policy-makers).
6. Inadequacies of Political Parties: PG are primarily a consequence of inadequacies of political parties.
7. Represent Changing Consciousness : For instance - increase in the food production or industrial goods
does bring a change in the way individuals and groups look at the world. Stagnation in production
leads to fatalism but increase in production leads to demands, protests and formation of new PGs .

IMPORTANCE OF PRESSURE GROUPS IN INDIA

▪ Enhances and broadens political participation
▪ Acts as safety valve and vent for grievances
▪ Ensures checks and balances
▪ Spreads awareness – Information – Education – Communication (IEC)
▪ Empowerment and deepening of the democratic principles
▪ Ensures accountability of government
▪ Helps in policy formulation, legislative functioning and policy implementation.
▪ Acts as feedback mechanism for government
▪ Ensures participatory democracy – inclusive growth
▪ PG enhances quality of governance – Debate - Discussion – Deliberation - Dissention (4Ds)
▪ They serve as a vital intermediary institutions between government and society

REASONS FOR PROLIFERATION OF PRESSURE GROUPS IN INDIA

▪ Vote bank politics
▪ Criminalisation of politics
 ▪ Indifferent attitude of government and political parties towards marginalised sections of society
▪ Poor criminal justice system - No quick justice and delayed justice
▪ Rising influence of non-state actors
▪ Poor public service delivery
▪ Ineffective and efficient grievance redressal mechanism.
▪ Failure of parliamentary democracy
▪ Globalisation – Amnesty and Greenpeace
▪ Vested interests in favourable policy formulation

HOW PRESSURE GROUPS ARE DIFFERENT FROM POLITICAL PARTIES

o Concerned with specific programmes and
issues
o Their activities are confined to the
protection and promotion of the interests
of their members
o PG neither contest elections nor try to
capture political power
o They are outside the government
o Neither accountability nor transparency
o Temporary in nature and formation
o Interest based formation and composition
o Uniform ideology - common interest –
common cause

THREE IMPORTANT TOOLS OF PRESSURE GROUPS

METHOD USED BY PRESSURE GROUPS

How Pressure Groups Exert Influence

 Ministers and Civil Servants - Many groups get in touch
with senior civil servants and ministers to get some sort
of influence over the policies while they are being
implemented.
 Parliament – PG may use parliamentary lobbying to supplement contacts with ministers and civil
servants. For Eg.- through influence on, private members’ bills, parliamentary questions etc.
 Political Parties - influence parties is through funding and donations.
 Public Opinion - influence govt. indirectly by pushing issues up the political agenda & demonstrating
both the strength of commitment and the level of public support for a particular cause.
 Direct Action - Strikes, blockades, boycotts and sit-ins are all examples of direct action. Direct action
may be violent or non-violent.

PRESSURE GROUPS IN INDIA

Business Groups FICCI, ASSOCHAM etc
Trade Unions AITUC, INTUC, Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS)
Professional Groups Indian Medical Association (IMA), Bar Council of India (BCI)
Agrarian Groups- All India Kisan Sabha, Bharatiya Kisan Union, etc
 Student’s Organisations ABVP, NSUI , All India Students Federation (AISF),
Religious Groups RSS, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Jamaat-e-Islami, etc.

Caste Groups Harijan Sevak Sangh, karni sena, etc

Linguistic Groups Tamil Sangh, Andhra Maha Sabha, etc

Tribal Groups National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN), Tribal League of Assam, etc.

Ideology based Groups Narmada Bachao Andolan, Chipko Movement, India Against Corruption etc.
Anomic Naxalite Groups, J&K Liberation Front , United Liberation Front of Assam
Limitations of Pressure Groups
1. Focus of the pressure groups: largely influence the administrative process rather than the
formulation of policy.
2. Issues raised by pressure groups: Instead of serving a useful purpose in the political administrative
process, they are reduced to work for narrow selfish interests. Many a time issues dominated by
caste and religion eclipse those related to socio-economic interests.
3. Serving political interests : Instead of exerting influence on political process, the pressure groups
become tools and implements to subserve political interests.
4. Low level of internal democracy : Pressure groups have a low level of internal democracy, creating
the possibility that they express the views of their leaders and not their members.
5. Instability: Most PGs do not have autonomous existence, they are unstable and lack commitment,
their loyalties shift with political situations which threatens general welfare. They many a times
resort to unconstitutional means like violence. Naxalite movement started in 1967 in West Bengal is
one such example.
6. Propagating extremism: Pressure groups can allow too much influence over the government from
unelected extremist minority groups, which in turn could lead to unpopular consequences.

Comparison of Indian and Western PGs

1. Significance of PGs : American PG are regarded as the fourth organ of the government but the
Indian PG are not yet able to play such significant role in politics.
2. Targets of PGs : In India and Great Britain the cabinet and civil service are the main targets of PGs
for lobbying purposes rather than the Parliament. However, the targets of American PGs are the
Congress and its committees rather than the President for lobbying purposes.

3. Themes or issues raised : Indian PGs based on caste, religion, region, etc. are more powerful than
the modern groups such as business organisations.
4. Foreign policy : American PGs take interest in foreign policy issues while in India PGs do not seem
to have interest in foreign policy matters. Indian PGs are concerned more with domestic policy
issues and problems.