Recent years have seen a great focus on making Indian cities global cities. For urban planners and dreamers, Mumbai urgently needs north-south and east-west connectivity. Towards this, they argue for the need to construct an 'express ring freeway' to circle the city 'such that a freeway can be accessed from any point in the city in less than 10 minutes'. 'Quick entry and exit', and 'efficient traffic dispersal' are seen as critical to the smooth functioning of the city...
For the less privileged the streets have a different role to play. They are more than freeways of connectivity. Streets, for good or bad, all too often become effectively bazaars, and meals combining the different purposes of pilgrimage, recreation (transportation) and economic exchange. As people blur the boundaries between public and private space by living on the street, buying and selling, eating, drinking tea, playing cricket or even just standing, urban planners point to how these activities impeded traffic and cause congestion.
In order to decongest, poor people are shifted to the outskirts. In the Vision Mumbai document prepared by the private consultancy from McKinsey...mass housing for the poor is being planned in the salt pan lands outside the city. What happens to their livelihood? The long quote below captures the voice of the poor.
"We are in fact human earthmovers and tractors. We levelled the land first. We have contributed to the city. We carry your shit out of the city. I don't see citizens' groups dredging sewers and digging roads. The city is not for the rich only. We need each other. I don't beg. I wash your clothes. Women can go to work because we are there to look after their children. The staff in Mantralaya, the collectorate, the BMC, even the police live in slums. Because we are there, women can walk safely at night...Groups such as Bombay First talk about Mumbai a world class city. How can it be a world-class city without a place for its poor? (Anand 2006: 3422)
Identify the groups that are organised to pursue specific interests in the political areas, operating primarily by lobbying the members of legislative bodies
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Interest groups
Option (1) Pressure groups — Incorrect. Pressure groups are formed when certain groups feel that their interests are not being taken up by the political parties; they then lobby with the government. The definition in the question, groups organised to pursue specific interests by lobbying the members of legislative bodies, is the one given for interest groups.
Option (2) Interest groups — Correct. Interest groups are organised to pursue specific interests in the political arena, operating primarily by lobbying the members of legislative bodies. Industrialists’ associations such as FICCI and ASSOCHAM, workers’ trade unions and farmers’ organisations are such groups: each speaks for the interest of its own members.
Option (3) Political parties — Incorrect. A political party aims at achieving legitimate control of government through an electoral process. It does not stand outside and lobby the legislators; it contests elections so that its own members become the government.
Option (4) N.G.Os — Incorrect. NGOs are voluntary organisations of citizens, part of civil society, which is neither state-controlled nor profit-making. They work on causes in society; lobbying legislators for one group’s specific interest is what defines an interest group.
Note: This question comes from the chapter ‘The Story of Indian Democracy’ of the pre-rationalised NCERT, which NTA followed in 2023. The chapter has been renamed ‘The Constitution and Social Change’ in the NCERT book (2025-26), and its lines on interest groups are still there.
NCERT: Social Change and Development in India — Chapter 3: The Constitution and Social Change, 3.2 Political Parties, Pressure and Interest Groups in Democratic Politics (2025-26)
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