US fact-tank "finds" two-thirds support BJP, yet 65% are "satisfied" with personal economic situation

Is Narendra Modi-led BJP heading for a two-thirds majority in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls? It would seem so, if a recent survey carried out by a US-based “nonpartisan fact tank” in Washington, DC, Pew Research Center, is to be believed. Beating all opinion polls, which give BJP around 200 seats – a little over one-third of the Lok Sabha strength – Pew claims BJP has the support of 60 per cent of urban and 64 per cent of rural India, saying, “New poll finds Indians are disgruntled about the state of their nation, deeply worried about a range of problems facing their society and supportive of new leadership in New Delhi.”
Ironically, if Pew “non-partisan fact tank” is to be believed, the very same percentage of people “remain fairly upbeat" abut their personal economic situation today and the economic prospects for both India and the next generation. The survey results were released less than a week before the Lok Sabha polling process is to begin, amid wide-scale allegations of manipulation of opinion polls with the help of money power.
Pew says, it carried out the survey under the guidance of Princeton Survey Research Associates International making 2,464 face-to-face interviews between December 7, 2013, and January 12, 2014 “in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Telugu, Odia, Marathi, Kannada and Gujarati” in 15 of the 17 most populous states, which together are home to about 91% of the adult Indian population.”

Claiming its poll fairly accurate, it says, “The margin of sampling error is ±3.8 percentage points. For the results based on the full sample, one can say with 95 per cent confidence that the error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus the margin of error."
Pew researcher Bruce Stokes comments, “Rural Indians prefer the BJP, despite Congress’ long ties to the rural poor. The Congress party has long drawn much of its support from rural Indians and has pursued policies to solidify that backing, such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and the National Food Security programme, both of which Indians overwhelmingly favour."
He adds, "Nevertheless, rural Indians favour the BJP, not Congress, to lead the next government by more than three-to-one (64 per cent to 18 per cent), roughly the same proportion as favor the BJP in urban areas.”
The researcher says, “Young Indians think the BJP is best suited to deal with India’s problems. By roughly three-to-one Indians ages 18 to 29 say the BJP will do a better job combating corruption, creating jobs, curbing inflation, reducing terrorism, helping the poor and ending political gridlock. Indians despair about their nation’s direction but they still have hope for the economy. By more than two-to-one Indians think India is headed in the wrong direction.”
At the same time, the Pew researcher believes, “But a majority (57 per cent) says the economy is good, despite slow growth. Six-in-ten (62 per cent) expect the economy to improve in the next 12 months. And 64 per cent think today’s children will be better off as adults than the current generation.” Pew adds, “just 10 per cent say it is very good and 47 per cent see it as good. Women (61 per cent) are somewhat more satisfied than men (53 per cent).”

It adds, “This positive assessment comes despite a recent government estimate that economic growth in the fiscal year ending in March 2014 would be just 4.9 per cent, up only slightly from expansion of just 4.5 per cent in the previous year. Indians in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are the most dissatisfied with current economic conditions: 60 per cent of them say the national economic situation is bad.” Pew doesn’t explain this contradiction.
Despite such a good outlook, Pew “finds” seven-in-ten Indians are “dissatisfied with the way things are going in their country; only three-in-ten (29 per cent) are satisfied. This discontent is shared by young and old, rich and poor, urban and rural Indians in almost equal measure: men (72 per cent) and women (67 per cent); Indians ages 18 to 29 (72 per cent) and those 50 years of age and older (69 per cent); those with a primary school education or less (67 per cent) and Indians with at least some college education (75 per cent); and people living in urban areas (72 per cent) as well as Indians in rural areas (68 per cent).”

Comments

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Whither Jeffrey Sachs-supported research project which 'created' Gujarat model of development for Modi?

Even as Donald Trump was swearing-in as US President, a friend forwarded to me a YouTube video in which veteran world renowned economist Prof Jeffrey Sachs participated and sought an answer as to why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "afraid to fly" despite being invited to Donald Trump's swearing in ceremony. This took my memory to 2003, when I -- as representative of the Times of India -- had a short tet-a-tat along with a couple of other reporters with Sachs in the chief minister's office in Gandhinagar.

Busy taking books to the needy, this rationalist exposes miracles in a superstition-infested Gujarat society

I knew his name as a campaigner against the sheer wastage of the large amounts of ghee brought by devotees from across India for a major religious ceremony conducted every year in Rupal village, near Gandhinagar, the Gujarat capital, on the ninth day of Navratri. I had seen him at several places during my visits to different NGO meetings as well as some media conferences.

No to free thought? How Gujarat's private universities are cowing down their students

"Don't protest"—that's the message private universities across Gujarat seem to be conveying to their students. A senior professor told me that students at the university where he teaches are required to sign an undertaking promising not to engage in protests. "They simply sign the undertaking and hand it over to the university authorities," he said.

'Potentially lethal, carcinogenic': Global NGO questions India refusing to ban white asbestos

Associated with the Fight Inequality Alliance, a global movement that began in 2016 to "counter the concentration of power and wealth among a small elite", claiming to have members in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Kenya, Zambia, the Philippines, and Denmark, the advocacy group Confront Power appears all set to intensify its campaign against India as "the world’s largest asbestos importer".

To be or not to be Sattvik: Different communities' differing notions of purity and fasting

This is a continuation of my last blog on Sattvik food. When talking about Sattvik, there is a tendency to overlook what it may mean to different sections of people around the world. First, let me redefine Sattvik: it means having a "serene, balanced, and harmonious mind or attitude." Derived from the Sanskrit word sattva, it variously means "pure, essence, nature, vital, energy, clean, conscious, strong, courage, true, honest, and wise." How do people achieve this so-called purity? Among Gujarati Hindus, especially those from the so-called upper castes who are vegetarians, one common way is fasting. On fasting days, such as agiyarash —the 11th day of the lunar cycle in the Vedic calendar—my close relatives fast but consume milk, fruit juices, mangoes, grapes, bananas, almonds, pistachios, and potato-based foods, including fried items. Another significant fasting period is adhik maas. During this time, many of my relatives "fast" by eating only a single me...

Sattvik Food Festival: Shouldn't one question notion of purity, cultural exclusion in food choices?

Recently, I visited the Sattvik Food Festival, an annual event in Ahmedabad organized by Anil Gupta, professor emeritus at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A). I have known Prof. Gupta since 1993, when I sought an appointment to meet him a few months after joining The Times of India in Ahmedabad—one reason why I have always been interested in the activities he is involved in.

Would Gujarat Governor, govt 'open up' their premises for NGOs? Activists apprehensive

Soon after I uploaded my blog about the Gujarat Governor possibly softening his stance on NGOs—evidenced by allowing a fisherfolk association to address the media at a venue controlled by the Raj Bhawan about India’s alleged failure to repatriate fishermen from Pakistani prisons—one of the media conference organizers called me. He expressed concern that my blog might harm their efforts to secure permission to hold meetings on state premises.

Beyond the Sattvik plate: Prof Anil Gupta's take on food, ethics, and sustainability

I was pleasantly surprised to receive a rather lengthy comment (I don't want to call it a rejoinder) on my blog post about the Sattvik Food Festival, held near the Sola Temple in Ahmedabad late last year. It came from no less a person than Anil Gupta, Professor Emeritus at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), under whose guidance this annual event was held.

Search This Blog