As many as 90 per cent of the people who participated in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s app-based survey to gather public opinion on demonetisation think that the “government’s move to tackle black money is brilliant/nice” and support the ban on old Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 notes.
The 10-question survey, which was conducted through the PM’s personal mobile app, got around five lakh responses from across 2,000 locations within 24 hours (as of 3.30 p.m. on Wednesday), the results shared on Mr. Modi’s website on Wednesday reveal.
However, the survey responses may not reflect the opinion of the entire country as all class of Indian citizens do not have access to a smartphone and mobile Internet to be part of this exercise, making the sample skewed —a major problem with most app-based surveys.
Experts divided
While expert opinion is divided regarding the impact of demonetisation on curbing black money, 92 per cent of respondents believe it will. In fact, half the respondents answered that it will have an immediate impact. Two-thirds of the respondents completely agree that demonetisation will bring real estate, higher education and healthcare in common man’s reach.
Just eight per cent of the respondents replied that they “mind the inconvenience faced in the fight to curb black money, terrorism and counterfeiting of currency” — a leading question which was criticised by experts as the question implicitly assumes that the move would definitely have all the stated effects. Forty-three per cent responded that they faced no inconvenience, while 48 per cent said there was some inconvenience, but it was worth it.
In response to another question which created controversy, 86 per cent of the respondents said that “some so-called anti-corruption activists are now actually batting in support of black money, corruption and even terrorist financing”.
Overall, results show that there is an overwhelming support for the Modi government’s effort against corruption: 92 per cent respondents said that efforts are good or very good. Mr. Modi released the results of the survey on Twitter thanking people for the “historic participation in the survey,” adding “Its satisfying to read the insightful views & comments. ”
