In February this year we had conducted a small impromptu survey
to assess the political mood of people across the country, with special regard
to “Modi vs. Rahul” debate. (see
here)
Encouraged by the response of the readers, we have decided to
conduct a comprehensive ground level survey covering 16-18 states to assess the
political and economic mood of the people.
The survey began early this month and shall be completed in two
months in three phases. Our team will be travelling through various states
across the country to assess the mood of the people, their top concerns and
expectations from the political establishment. The basic idea is to form an
assessment regarding likely political formation post 2014 elections and the
likely impact on the economy.
This exercise is completely different from popular opinion
polls, inasmuch as our team shall not be carrying any pre-structured survey
questionnaires with pre-defined respondent sample in mind. We shall be
informally meeting and talking to people on the roads, public transport,
temples, shops, farms, village gatherings, schools & colleges, etc.
In the first phase, we travelled to six states, including two
election bound states of Delhi and Karnataka besides Maharashtra, Goa, Punjab,
and Haryana. In this phase we spoke to over 1400 people from a variety of profession/occupation
and socio-economic strata.
Key highlights
(a)
A vast majority of people were found to be
totally indifferent to the political parties. The general refrain was that all
political parties are same and there is little ideological differentiation to
make.
(b)
The youth in all state was found to be fretful.
Lack of sufficient productive employment opportunity near home was the primary
source of anxiety amongst rural youth.
(c)
The urban youth had much more to bother about –
electricity, drinking water, education, inflation, traffic congestion,
pollution being some popular concerns.
(d)
Prima facie corruption was the first thing most
urban people were found to be agitated about. On deep probing however over 70%
agreed that they count on corruption in public offices to get preferential
treatment.
Politically also they would prefer to vote for someone who they
believe will help them in getting odd jobs done, irrespective of the party or
ideology of that person. An overwhelming majority (both urban and rural) suggested
that they do not voting for a proven criminal if he can afford hem favors like
bank loan, gun license, passport, government job, shop/hawker license etc.
(e)
The people in Delhi and Haryana were willing to
discuss (only!) politics at length, while Maharashtra and Karnataka people were
not too inclined. People in Goa mostly refused to talk to politics.
…to be continued on 25th
April
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