What are the Lessons from Social Movements?

(A) Social movements came up to rectify some problems in the functioning of party politics.
(B) Social movements are hampering the functioning of India's democracy.
(C) Social movements represented new social groups whose economic and social grievances were not redressed.
(D) Social movements ensured effective representation of diverse group and their demands.
(E) Social movements help in establishing dictatorship.

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

(A), (C) and (D) Only

*The correct answer is Option 4: (A), (C) and (D) Only*

(A) Social movements came up to rectify some problems in the functioning of party politics. (Correct)
(B) Social movements are hampering the functioning of India's democracy.
(C) Social movements represented new social groups whose economic and social grievances were not redressed. (Correct)
(D) Social movements ensured effective representation of diverse group and their demands. (Correct)
(E) Social movements help in establishing dictatorship.

The history of these popular movements helps us to understand better the nature of democratic politics. We have seen that these non-party movements are neither sporadic in nature nor are these a problem. These movements came up to rectify some problems in the functioning of party politics and should be seen as integral part of our democratic politics. They represented new social groups whose economic and social grievances were not redressed in the realm of electoral politics. Popular movements ensured effective representation of diverse groups and their demands. This reduced the possibility of deep social conflict and disaffection of these groups from democracy. Popular movements suggested new forms of active participation and thus broadened the idea of participation in Indian democracy. Critics of these movements often argue that collective actions like strikes, sit-ins and rallies disrupt the functioning of the government, delay decision making and destabilise the routines of democracy. Such an argument invites a deeper question: why do these movements resort to such assertive forms of action? We have seen in this chapter that popular movements have raised legitimate demands of the people and have involved large scale participation of citizens. It should be noted that the groups mobilised by these movements are poor, socially and economically disadvantaged sections of the society from marginal social groups. The frequency and the methods used by the movements suggest that the routine functioning of democracy did not have enough space for the voices of these social groups.