Model Question and Answers for APSC | How do pressure groups influence the Indian political process? Do you agree with this view that informal pressure groups have emerged as powerful than formal pressure groups in recent years?

Ans: A pressure group is any group of people with similar interests who work together to put pressure on the formal political system to help them get what they want. People sometimes call them the "face of politics."

Methods of pressure groups:

• Groups are consulted by ministers and governments for many different reasons. Major economic, industrial, and trade policies are made with the help of big businesses, trade groups, and trade To get important groups to work together. To find out how the groups affected by the proposed policies feel about them.
• Parliamentary lobbying is a way for members of parliament to add to their contacts with ministers and officers by using private members bills, parliamentary questions, and select committee enquiries to try to change policy.
• Having ties to a political party makes it easier to change the way that party runs things when it is in power. Donations and funding are two of the most important ways to get the parties to do what you want.
• Pressure groups indirectly affect policy decisions by campaigning for public They do this by pushing issues to the top of the political agenda and showing both how strongly they care about a cause and how much public support it has.
• Direct action is things like strikes, blockades, boycotts, and sit-ins. Direct action can involve violence or Civil disobedience is sometimes used as a form of direct action that isn't violent.
• Putting people in public office who help their interests.

Informal groups more vocal and powerful:

Formal pressure groups like FICCI, civil society organisations, and even political parties have had a big impact on public interest laws like the RTI Act and the RTE Act. Widening of access points: Devolution has made it easier for pressure groups to use the Parliament to get their way.

Conventional Pressure Groups (PGs) based on caste, community, religion, and regional groupings play a major role in Indian politics.

• Informal pressure groups have been more powerful because they are more political and involve more people from the ground up. This makes them more appealing to a large number of people.
• Some groups keep forming and breaking up based on what's going on or for a specific reason. g. anti-dowry, anti-sati, etc.
• Sometimes, only a few members have skewed interests. Most of these groups don't exist on their own, so they are unstable and don't have much loyalty. Their allegiances change based on political situations, which is bad for the general welfare.

• They often use illegal methods, like violence, to get what they want. The Naxalite movement, which began in 1967 in West Bengal, is one example.