Forget the long lines, forget the stories of distress and even death, forget the complete loss in income and productivity—they are either exaggerated or they hardly matter when seen against the greater good. They may even be hyped up by the media and orchestrated by the opposition. The truth is that an overwhelming percentage of people – 93 percent – support the prime minister and his decision to demonetize 86 percent of the currency in one fell swoop.
Or at least that is the result obtained by a survey conducted by the Narendra Modi app in which over 5 lakh people participated. The app is privately owned by Narendra Modi, not by the Prime minister or his office. And the data collected while registering for the app, which includes name, number and – though this is voluntary – voter registration number too will be available to those who administer the app. It is valuable data, but since all those who have downloaded it (app) have given it voluntarily, one assumes they either did not know or did not care or were quite happy to offer it.
It is these downloaders who have overwhelmingly given thumbs up to demonetisation. They answered questions like “do you think the evil of corruption and black money needs to be fought and eliminated” and “do you think demonetization will help in curbing black money, corruption and terrorism”, which is said to be an example of a triple question which can be answered with one opinion. The questions are loaded, asking the respondents to give opinions on the government’s ‘efforts’, which is a loaded word. The options for answers range from “bad experience” to ‘brilliant”, with “it’s okay”, “could improve” and “nice” in between. Thus there is one negative and four leaning the other way.
But let’s keep this aside. The more pertinent issue is that only those with smart phones and internet plans would be able to answer the survey. Five lakhs is a miniscule number when compared to the country’s adult population, but also is very small when compared to smart phone users. And it completely leaves out millions of those who have severely suffered but have no way to express their opinions. People queuing up do not have the time and perhaps also not the inclination to fill out a survey on their phone; they are busy trying to get a few hundred rupees. The farmer is busy working out ways to buy fertiliser, the daily wage worker is desperate for a job that will get him some money to buy food. They do feel strongly about demonetization and they may have a different point of view. But at least the survey conducted by this app will not reflect that.
Also read: 10 Questions Modi’s App actually needs to ask about Demonitisation!
The moot question to be asked is-why did Narendra Modi feel the need to conduct the survey in the first place? He and his government have been saying that the move was well thought out and was aimed at removing corruption as well as striking at the funding of terrorism which was done through fake 500 and 1000 rupee notes. In one fell stroke, the cash holdings of tax evaders and masters who funded terrorists were rendered redundant. Plus, it was also claimed that barring a bit of inconvenience, the people were supporting the overall move and when the entire dust would settle down and the problems would disappear, the benefits would become apparent. Obviously anyone would want to get the feel of the nation, but the media has been full of stories of how people are faring – and it is mostly stories about hardships – which would be sufficient to pick up a general sense. The intelligence agencies would have given inputs too.
Most important is the role of politicians. With its vast army of MPs, MLAs, party members, to say nothing of swayamsewaks, surely the government and the prime minister can get feedback from the ground. An elected representative’s job is to go and meet his/her constituents and listen to them. That has not happened on the scale it should have. Perhaps there is a nervousness to face the people who are going through a very difficult time. But honest feedback should always be welcomed, if only to avoid mistakes of this kind.
Instead, Prime Minister Modi seems to want only good news coming to him. A survey like this one, with many questionable attributes in form, methodology and therefore substance, will throw up the results that sound pleasing, but will it accurately reflect reality? Or is reality too depressing?
One way or the other, whatever the results of this survey, it will not change the situation on the ground. Over two weeks after demonetisation was announced in one fell stroke one night, the country’s economy is suffering and the people are going through extreme pain. Not just the very poor, even the middle class has been hit; on the 1st of next month, when it will be time to hand out salaries. These problems, far from reducing, are only going to get worse. Its time the prime minister and his team start preparing for that.
