01800pab a2200145 454500008004000000100002100040245005900061260000900120300001500129362001200144520141300156650002201569650001901591773004401610180718b2015   xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d  aPalanithurai, G.  aPressure groups for strengthening grassroots democracy  c2015  ap.445-456.  aJul-Sep  aA unique pressure group initiative emerged to make the presence of elected women representatives felt in the rural local bodies of the state of Tamil Nadu. The process of federating the elected women representatives began at Gandhigram Rural Institute in Rajiv Gandhi Chair for Panchayati Raj Studies with the initial support from the Ford Foundation, while the Rajiv Gandhi Chair for Panchayati Raj Studies took the responsibility of coordinating the activities of the Federation helping it come on its own as an independent body. This article documents how an academic research institution could weave together a loose network of civil society organisations created with the active involvement of activists and civil society organisations. This gave the outfit a non-political character, provided needed skill and capacity-building, honing of the issues and much needed identity as social capacity. A record of the activities of the Federation, working as a pressure group for the panchayati raj institutions breaks the myth that lobbying by such groups can be only within political, social or cultural domains. The group works for deepening the decentralised democracy on quasi-administrative issues related to local governance and development. The distinctive nature of its activities charts a new course for pressure groups' relevance and focus for community-level democratic institutions. - Reproduced.  aWomen in politics  aInterst groups  aIndian Journal of Public Administration