Channels of Interest Articulation: A Case Study of Federation of University Teachers' Associations of Bihar
| DOI | 10.1177/0019556120150312 |
| Author | Surendra Narayan |
| Date | 01 July 2015 |
| Published date | 01 July 2015 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
CHANNELS
OF
INTEREST ARTICULATION: A CASE
STUDY
OF
FEDERATION
OF
UNIVERSITY
TEACHERS'
ASSOCIATIONS
OF
BIHAR
SURENDRA
NARAYAN
The serendipity
of
success
or
failure
of
a group significantly
depends on the channels
and
means
of
access to the decision
makers. The channels
and
means
of
access·
of
groups vary
according to the political culture, the nature
of
politics, the
political institutional structures,
and
the nature
of
party system
besides the nature
of
the issue
and
the nature
of
the group
itself
Interest groups in liberal democracies try
to
exert political
influence through four major channels: public opinion, political
parties, the legislature
and
the administration. Indian interest
groups in general tend to concentrate on the last three
of
these
channels. The FUTAB also emphasises on the last two, but it
makes greater use
of
the other channels than are used
by
the
business
or
labour groups. It primarily concentrates its efforts
on
the State Government
for
the articulation
of
teachers'
interests.
THE
INDEPENDENCE brought new hopes and aspirations. Like in other
states, university and college teachers
ofBihar
also began to articulate their
interests but casually. They did not have any structured organisation
at
the
state level. Their failure to have the due attention
of
the state government
made them realise to have a potent organisation to deal with the government.
On May 7, 1967, an umbrella organisation, the Federation
of
University
Teachers' Associations
of
Bihar (FUTAB) was formed at a convention
of
delegates
of
all the university teachers' associations in the state. But soon
after its formation, a fissure occurred as the interests
of
two categories
of
teachers, those
of
affiliated and constituent colleges, were not similar. While
the teachers
of
constituent colleges and postgraduate (PG) departments were
in the university service, the affiliated college teachers were subjected to
Governing Bodies which were often dominated by politico-educational
entrepreneurs. The emoluments
of
a teacher
of
constituent college was
almost double than that
of
an affiliated college teacher. Obviously, there
CHANNELS
OF
INTEREST
ARTICULATION
I
501
SURENDRA NARAYAN
was more difficulty in articulating the interest
of
affiliated college teachers.
So the constituent college teachers viewed the affiliated college teachers as
burdensome and found it convenient to have a separate organisation in order
to
articulate their interests without much ado. So they formed their own
organisation-the Federation
ofU
niversity (Service) Teachers Associations'
ofBihar
(FUSTAB). But their association did not dampen the enthusiasm
of
the affiliated college teachers.
It
went ahead with its two fundamental slogans
'equal pay for equal work' and 'stop business in education' (Shiksha
mein
vyapar
band
karo), meaning thereby similar management for all colleges.
It began to advance step by step in the direction
of
complete parity and
ultimately on May 7, 1974, FUTAB reached an agreement with the state
government that envisaged the conversion
of
all the then viable affiliated
colleges into constituent units
of
respective universities. Now both the
Federations represent the same interest and work in tandem with each other.
The tremendous success ofFUTAB within a short span
of
seven years owed
to unflinching solidarity
of
teachers with their leadership and the ability
of
its leadership to exploit all the channels
of
interest articulation available in
a parliamentary democracy.
The chances
of
success
or
failure
of
a group significantly depends on
the channels and means
of
access to the decision makers. The channels
and means
of
access
of
groups vary according to the political culture, the
nature
of
politics, the political institutional structures, and the nature
of
party system besides the nature
of
the issue and the nature
of
the group
itself. Indian political culture is conducive to group politics. Tolerance is
one
of
the basic characteristics
of
group politics. Our political democracy
inherits tolerance from the social system as well. 'The caste system', says
M.N. Srinivas 'provides an institutional basis for tolerance. Living in a
caste society means living in a sort
of
pluralistic cultural universe, each
caste has its own occupation, customs, ritual traditions and ideas. Caste
councils, especially the council
of
the locally dominant caste, are the
guardians
of
such pluralism' (1966:75).11 is the pluralistic character
of
our
society that tolerated the growth and spread
of
Bhudhism, Jainism, Islam,
Christianity and others. Hutton aptly observes that the caste system has
afforded a place in society into which any community, be it racial, social,
occupational, or religious, can be fitted as a cooperating part
of
the social
whole, while retaining its own distinct character and its separate individual
life (1963: 115).
Myron Weiner terms Indian politics
as
a 'politics
of
scarcity'.
He
outlines five features
of
Indian politics (Weiner 1963:28):
(i)
the high
level
of
aspirations, which grew in part out
of
increasing Indian contact
with Western material conditions and also out
of
efforts by nationalists
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