Skip to main content

57% "satisfied" with Modi governance, slide not significant, says corporate-sponsored urban male-dominated survey

Virtually seeking to give clean chit to the Narendra Modi government's four-year performance, a corporate-sponsored survey, claimed to have been done among over 62,000 "unique citizens" who polled over 170,000 votes, has claimed that a total of 57% citizens believe that "the Government has either met or exceeded their expectations in the last 4 years" as against 61% during the last year's survey and 64% in 2016.
The survey also shows that 56% citizens believe "the government is on track to deliver the promises made in the pre-election manifesto", which is a "slight slide" from 59% last year. 
However, LocalCircles, which conducted the survey, insists, this is not a very bad performance, as "typically, the expectations from political establishments or the ruling party among citizens deteriorates very fast." After all, "approval rating" ratings for US Presidents are known to fall very fast, but but as the Modi government, it is still in "high digits."
Calling itself "India’s leading Community social media platform", LocalCircles' top seven-person team includes three top industrialists -- Nadir Godrej, Managing Director, Godrej Industries; Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group; and RC Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki.
Giving a profile of those surveyed,LocalCicles suggests a gender and urban bias of the persons chosen. It admits, "Approximately 69% of respondents were males while 31% were females. Approximately 41% of the respondents were from Tier 1 cities, 28% from Tier 2 cities and 31% from Tier 3 cities and rural locations."
The profile, however, does not provide any information about the caste and class background of those surveyed, nor does it suggest how these persons were interviewed -- face-to-face, telephonically or on social media.
It merely says, "Each citizen who voted in the survey is registered with LocalCircles with their detailed information and in many cases shared their exact residential address... The outcome of this survey gives a picture of the Government’s performance on 23 different areas or parameters." If issues surveyed range from corruption to communalism, there were no queries on freedom of expression, attitude towards institutes or caste atrocities.
Giving a breakup of overall satisfaction rate, the survey show that 28% citizens said the government has "exceeded their expectation" suggesting a "dramatic improvement upwards compared to 17% last year and 18% in 2016", though just 28% this year said Government "meets expectation", down from 46% in 2016. If in 2016 36% rated the Government as not meeting expectations, in 2018 this has risen to 43%.
Based on this, LocalCircles concludes, "This means that opinion about Government performance is more polarised now."
The survey shows thst 58% feel crime against women and children has not reduced. However, LocalCircles says, the dissatisfaction on this score is less than last year (60%) despite "cases of rape, kidnap and murder of children are hitting headline on a regular basis" from "Bengaluru to Sonipat to Kathua."
Then, the survey says, 32% citizens believe that healthcare facilities and services in their city have improved, up from 23%; 43% citizens said their city has become cleaner because of Swachh Bharat Mission as against 35% citizens last year; 65% citizens felt optimistic about their family’s future in India "a slight dip from 69% who felt optimistic last year"; and 49% said corruption in India has reduced as against 47% last year; citizens had said that corruption in the country has reduced.
Then, 61% citizens said terrorism in the country as against 51% citizens last year, and 50% citizens felt that the government handled communalism as against In 2017, 61% last year and 63% in 2016.

Comments

TRENDING

Modi govt distancing from Adanis? MoEFCC 'defers' 1500 MW project in Western Ghats

Is the Narendra Modi government, in its third but  what would appear to be a weaker avatar, seeking to show that it would keep a distance, albeit temporarily, from its most favorite business house, the Adanis? It would seem so if the latest move of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) latest to "defer" the Adani Energy’s application for 1500 MW Warasgaon-Warangi Pump Storage Project is any indication. Quoting the September 27 MoEFCC's Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) meeting,  released on October 2, a senior scholar-activist of the top environmental advocacy group South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP) has  reported  that in a "respite" to forest dwelling communities, fragile biodiversity and community conservation areas, the EAC has "rejected" the Adani application for project. However, the window for continuing with the controversial project hasn't been entirely closed. To quote Parineeta Dandekar, the ...

Will Supreme Court also come forward to end legally-sanctioned segregation on religious lines in Gujarat?

My Vadodara-based activist-friend, Jagdish Patel, who has long championed the cause of the victims of silicosis, a deadly occupational disease, has forwarded to me an interesting blog by the executive editor of Pulitzer Center, Marina Walker Guevara, written in the context of the U.S. election results, in which Donald Trump has won.

NHRC failing to 'effectively address' human rights violations: NGO groups tell UN-linked body

In a joint submission to the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions' (GANHRI's) Sub Committee on Accreditation (SCA), two civil society groups -- All India Network of NGOs and Individuals working with National and State Human Rights Institutions (AiNNI) and Asian NGO Network on National Human Rights Institutions (ANNI) --  have said that the  National Human Rights Commission's (NHRC's) accreditation, deferred in  2016, 2023, and 2024, fails to find space on its website. In their submission to the top global body which coordinates the relationship between NHRIs and the United Nations human rights system, AiNNI and ANNI said, the accreditation status of NHRC "has not been updated" since 2017, and as of September 21, 2024, the "website falsely states that the NHRC has retained its 'A' accreditation status from SCA for four consecutive five-year terms." They added, such omission diminishes "civil society's trust" in N...

Two persons with old typewriters off SLC's fashionable street, writing poems on postcards!

A few days back, after taking a round of beautiful hills surrounding Salt Lake City (SLC), we drove down to a popular, somewhat fashionable spot -- Harvey Milk Blvd -- not very far from the Down Town. We visited a few shops, where mainly souvenirs were being sold, and also a few sex toys! Finally, we visited an ice cream parlour, where we tasted Italian ice cream. It is a well decorated parlour, with different coloured lovely goodies  hanging across the restaurant. I took a lemon flavoured ice cream -- really liked it. The parlour is called Dolcetti Gelato. Thereafter, while returning to take the car, we found two persons sitting on outdoor chairs, with old manual typewriters on makeshift tables. They were typing out exactly the same way I used to in 1980s to do my stories before faxing them from Moscow to Patriot office in Delhi.

When Congress leaders in Gujarat forgot to remember Jawaharlal Nehru on November 14

It was November 14, Jawaharlal Nehru’s 135th birth anniversary. While the national leaders everywhere – ranging from Congress’ bigwigs to Narendra Modi and Rajnath Singh – paid their tributes to the India’s first Prime Minister who also happened to be one of the most important freedom fighters, I was a little surprised: The Congress leaders in my state, Gujarat, seemed to ignore him at the place where mediapersons were called to interact with them.

Strange rituals observed around Diwali and Gujarati new year amidst celebrations

While the fever around that the Gujarati new year, Bestu Varas, which fell on the next day of Diwali, November 1, has still not fully subsided, with noise of crackers still heard in the urban area where I live, what appears strange to me how on the eve of every Diwali is how superstitions take round among believers. One of these I noticed is, people cook some bit of food on a day before Diwali, which is called Kali Chaudas, and place it on the crossroads.

Is hiding promise of bribe in India a crime in US? That's what CNN reports on Adanis

A top ex-bureaucrat -- whom I know as one of the most reasonable analysts -- has forwarded me a CNN story   titled "Billionaire Gautam Adani indicted in New York on bribery charges". The ex-official has wondered why is Indian media quiet about the news. I can't say why India media is quiet, but, written by  Ramishah Maruf, and datelined New York, the story quotes a US Department of Justice statement as saying that Adani and other executives were "indicted" in New York for "roles" in a multi-billion-dollar fraud scheme.