Electoral Bonds and the Make-Believe Idealist World
Electoral Bonds were brought in for reforming political funding. It wasn't perfect, but the judiciary brought it down for being less than perfect. What is going on?
How do Indians think? As vast and as diverse our nation is, it is nevertheless interesting to get a feel of its pulse. I am not sure if the surveys can go an honest and a good job, but the findings do present an interesting picture. Let’s look at some of the findings. The new survey by Pew Research Centre says:
As many as 92 per cent Indians believe that the military has a good influence on the nation. The defence forces garnered the highest level of support in a survey
The view of the current PM Dr. Singh is very favorable:
An overwhelming 85 per cent of the people surveyed believe that Dr Singh has a good influence. A higher percentage — 87 per cent — of people have a favourable opinion about the prime minister. Among them, nearly 47 per cent per cent of the respondents held a very favourable opinion about the highly qualified and soft spoken Dr Singh.
Media also seems to get high marks:
85 per cent of Indians believe that the media has a good influence on society.
The current Congress-led Government seems to be in a sweet spot. 80 per cent of respondents in the survey say that the national government is doing a fine work. In a similar survey by Pew Research Centre in 2007, only 77 per cent people had said that the National Government was doing ok. And this has happened despite the large scams coming out like the CWG and Telecom 2G. It is obvious that people feel that Congress can do no wrong.
Police doesn’t seem to be much loved. Half of all respondents believe police is a bad influence on the society. Interestingly, and ironically, women are greater advocates of the police than men. 50% of women and 45% of men think police is a good influence. Religious leaders and Gurus seem to be having a bad time with their image. Only 38% people favor them, while 58% say they are not a good influence. In 2007, the percentage who backed the religious Gurus was 52%.
On the economic side, foreign investment is not frowned upon any more. 72 per cent say that large companies are good for the country. This is up from 2002 survey’s figure of 61%.
The themes that emerge are:
As a nation, the question remains – where are we headed? Interestingly, there is an overwhelming feeling that military is a good influence. If the disillusionment was to increase to a level where looting politicians cannot gloss over anymore, then a military coup and takeover of India may become a possibility. But for that, we would need some military general with some strength and risk taking ability. That has not happened since Sam Maneckshaw!
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