Nepal witnessed an extraordinary popular movement in April 2006, which aimed at restoring democracy. This struggle is a source of inspiration to democrats all over the world. All major political parties in the Parliament formed a Seven Party Alliance (SPA) called for a four day strike in Kathmandu, the country’s capital. This protest soon turned into an indefinite strike in which Maoist insurgents and various organisation joined hands. People were determined and defied curfew and took to the streets. They demanded restoration of parliament, power to an all-party government and a new constituent assembly resisting all the restrictions that were imposed on them. As a result, on 24 April 2006, that is, the last day of the ultimatum, the king was forced to concede all the demands of people and democracy was restored. 

The movement for democracy in Nepal:

(i) The movement of 2006 was aimed at regaining popular control over the government from the king. All the major political parties in Parliament (Seven Party Alliance of Nepal) called for a 4 day strike and this protest soon turned into indefinite strike in which many other organisations joined hands.

(ii) People defied curfews and took to the streets. Even the security forces found themselves unable to take on more than 1 lakh people who gathered almost every day to demand the restoration of democracy. They stuck to their demands of restoring the parliament, power to an all–party government and a new constituent assembly.

(iii) On the last day of this protest movement, the king was forced to meet all the demands of the people. As a result, SPA chose Girija Prasad Koirala as the Prime Minister and the restored parliament passed various laws taking away most of the powers from the king.

The ways pressure groups exert influence on politics are:

(i) They try to gain public support and sympathy for their goals and activities by carrying out information campaigns, organising meetings, etc.

(ii)They organise protest activity like strikes or disrupt government programmes.

(iii) Persons from pressure groups may participate in official bodies and committees that offer advice to the government.

People’s successful struggle against privatization of water in Bolivia reminds us that popular struggles integral to the working of democracy.

Bolivia is a poor country in Latin America. The World Bank pressurized the government to give up its control of municipal water supply. The company immediately increased the price of water by four times. This led to spontaneous popular protests as the water cost began to make a dent in the household budget of the people. An alliance of labour, human rights and community leaders organised a four day strike which was called off after the government agreed to negotiate. It was due to such protests by the people that the MNC contract was cancelled and the municipal water supply was restored to old rates.

Two sectional interest groups are trade unions and business associations.