Widening Political Participation

The level of political participation is an important indicator of the health of democracy. Democracy, at heart, means government by the people. If this is the case, declining electoral turnout and steadily falling party membership highlights a major ‘democratic deficit’ in Indian politics. In this context, pressure groups have become increasingly effective agents of political participation. Not only has single-issue politics proved to be

popular but the grass roots activism and decentralized organization of many campaigning groups have proved to be attractive to many young people and those who may be disillusioned with conventional politics.