Chapter 5 Popular Struggles and Movements Long Answer and Questions
Question 1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of WTO to the Indian economy? Mention any two.
Answer:
WTO Advantages:
- It helped India to increase its foreign trade. Being a member of WTO, India has been able to expand its trade relations with 148 countries.
- With the advent of WTO, new technology has arrived in India, which has caused rapid industrialization and improved the standard of living.
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WTO Disadvantages:
- Developing countries like India have not been able to get much benefit from WTO but India’s share in the international market is very small.
- The domestic market in India has differed a lot due to rising competition among the member countries of the WTO.
Question 2. Trace the events that led to democracy in Nepal.
Answer:
- Nepal achieved democracy in 1990. King Birendra, who accepted the
constitutional monarchy was killed in a mysterious family massacre. - After the death of King Birendra, Gyanendra became the new king of Nepal.
- KingGryanendra did not accept the democratic rule and dissolved the popularly elected government in February 2005.
- The people of Nepal started the second popular movement in 2006 that aimed at establishing a democratic government.
Question 3. “Democracy evolves through popular struggles.” Do you agree? Support your answer.
Or
Justify with three points that democracy evolves through popular struggle.
Or
It is said that ‘democracy evolves through popular struggles’. Explain the statement.
Answer:
Almost all Democracies that evolved so far have come across many struggles. Take the example of the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and also the independence of India, etc.
- It is also observed that conclusions evolved after conflicts and some significant decisions might be taken after it.
- Democracy usually involves conflict between two groups, i.e., those who are in power and those who want to change the power or want to have a share in the power.
- Whenever the country is going through some moments like transition to
democracy, expansion of democracy, or deepening of democracy. - Democracy conflict is generally resolved through mass mobilization.
- For example, the popular struggle in Nepal proved that the unity of political parties, and organizations and the active participation of the people resulted in the transfer of the monarchical government to a democratic government.
Question 4. Describe the mobilisation and organisation in about 120 words keeping in view the mobilisation activities of some organisations and groups in Nepal.
Answer:
Mobilization And Organization In Nepal: The call for indefinite stroke was given by the Seven Party Alliance in Nepal. These big parties had some members in the Parliament.
Besides this, it was joined by the Nepalese Communist Party (Maoist) which did not believe in Parliamentary democracy in Nepal. All the major labor unions and their federations including professionals of democracy joined the movement in Nepal.
The land allotted to the company should be canceled immediately, which should be given to local farmers as grazing land for their cattle. The farmers would use that land to grow such plants which would provide raw material for the paper industry. Its ownership should be with the government of Nepal and not with a private company.
Question 5. Write a short account of Bolivia’s water war.
Or
Discuss in brief Bolivia’s struggle for water.
Or
Write a note on Bolivia’s water war.
Answer:
- Bolivia is a poor country in Latin America. The World Bank pressured the government of this country to give up its control of the municipal water supply. The government sold their rights to the city of Cochabamba to a multinational company (MNC).
- The company immediately increased the price of water by four times. Many people receive monthly water bills of ₹ 100 in a country where the average income is around ₹ 5,000 a month. This led to a spontaneous popular protest.
- In January 2000, a new alliance of labor, human rights, and community leaders organized a successful four-day general strike in the city. The government agreed to negotiate and the strike was called off. Yet nothing happened.
Question 6. Distinguish between sectional and public interest groups.
Answer:
- An interest group is one that attempts to promote or prevent changes in the policy of the government without getting elected or participating in the government.
- These groups work to promote a particular policy of the government that goes in their favor or oppose the policy of the government that goes against their interests.
- A sectional interest group is one that represents the interests of a particular section of society. They work and aim for the good of the members of their society.
- A public interest group is one that represents the interests of the entire society in general. Their activities aim at the welfare of all members of the society and not just a particular section of the society.
- Examples: An interest group that attempts to promote the interests of only a specific group (say workers group, peasants group, etc.) or a particular caste group (say Yadavs, Jats, Jains, Guptas, etc.) is called a sectional interest group.
- On the other hand, an interest group fighting against social evils (that affect everybody) that are plaguing society is a good example of a public interest group.
Question 7. Write the similarities between the popular movements of Nepal and Bolivia.
Answer:
Both movements involved popular struggles of mass mobilization where large number of people actively participated.
Both movements involved political parties and many organizations. For example, the Maoists supported the SPA in Nepal, and the FEDECOR organization was supported by the socialist party in Bolivia.
Question 8. Are you suggesting that strikes, dharnas, bandh, and demonstrations are a good thing? I thought it happened only in our country because we are not a mature democracy yet.
Answer:
- Democracy evolves through struggle by the people of the country.
- Strikes, dharna, bandh, and demonstrations are the democratic means of struggle. These are a good thing till used peacefully for a genuine democratic demand.
- When strikes, dharna, demonstrations, etc., take place democratically in a country, it means the democracy is expanding and deepening its roots. Not only in our country, these happen in every democratic country. These things happen where and when the general will of the people is overlooked.
Question 9. Does it mean that whichever side manages to mobilize a bigger crowd gets away with whatever it wants? Are we saying that ‘Might is Right’ in a democracy?
Answer:
No, democracy is based on public opinion and necessarily means giving acceptance to the demands of the masses. It does not necessarily mean acceptance of their demands by the government.
In a democratic country, only those movements and struggles succeed whose demands are judicious and based on the demand of public welfare.
Question 10. How far the activities of the pressure groups are useful in the functioning of a Democratic Government?
Answer:
- A pressure group is an organized or an unorganized body that seeks to promote
its interests. - It is formed by people having common interests, occupations, and opinions.
- They do not aim to attain power in the government. They just seek to promote their own interests.
- It is argued that sectional interest groups are not good for democracy. They promote only the interests of their section and ignore the whole society in general.
- Also, the pressure groups are not accountable to the people in general.
Question 5. Despite some differences, the story of the popular struggle ofNepal and the popular demand of Bolivia share some common features. Briefly point out the similarity of the both popular struggles.
Answer:
- Both of these popular struggles are related to the foundation aspect and deepening
of democracy in Nepal and Bolivia respectively. - The focused minds of people in both cases have shown their existence above all bureaucratic practices, for example, the monarchy’s repression-suppression tactics, and even above the international institution, i.e., the World Bank (as an agency of UNO) in the case of Bolivia.
- Both cases involved mass mobilization.
Question 6. What are pressure groups? How are they different from political parties?
Answer:
Pressure group: It is a group of people who always work for the betterment of the public. The term ‘pressure groups’ refers to any interest group whose members share certain common attributes and do not make claims about the other groups and the political parties.
Question 7. Point out the differences between the characteristics and values of popular movements ofNepal and Bolivia which took place for democracy in both of these countries.
Or
Enlist the differences between the movement in Nepal and Bolivia.
Answer:
Movement of Nepal:
- It was for achieving the foundational challenge of democracy,
- It was a period of transition from monarchy to democracy,
- It was led by the Party Alliance (SPA) and the communist party of Nepal.
Movement of Bolivia:
- It was for achieving the challenge of fundamental rights of democracy,
- It was a period of facing international uncivil pressure on democratic countries,
- It was initiated by FEDECOR, or organization formed by local engineers professors, and environmentalists.