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Do the common people support the prohibition policy of the Government of Tamil Nadu? What do people feel about the recent policy of relaxation in dealing with the prohibition offenders? How effective is the enforcement of prohibition in Tamil Nadu? Who are the main supporters of Chief Minister M. G. Ramachandran? To answer these and other interesting questions a public opinion survey was conducted during the third week of December by the students of the Statistics Department of the Madras Christian College.

Eighty-two per cent of the respondents agreed with the statement that 'Prohibition must continue in Tamil Nadu'. In contrast to this only seventeen per cent disagreed with the statement. Furthermore taking into consideration only those respondents who are strong supporters of MGR, as high as ninety per cent want prohibition to continue. It is clear that a vast majority of the people of Tamil Nadu want prohibition. This opinion has not undergone any change during the last few years.

The Tamil Nadu Government did not want to punish habitual drinkers and thus brought in relaxation in the enforcement of prohibition. Only twenty-four per cent of the people welcome this new policy. On the other hand seventy-two per cent are opposed to this policy of relaxation. Taking the strong supporters of MGR, as high as seventy-six per cent oppose the policy of relaxation.

How effectively is prohibition enforced? Respondents were asked whether they had seen any person in a drunken state during the previous week. Seventy-three per cent had seen drunken people in one week. In January 1978, the corresponding figure was about sixty per cent. Apparently prohibition is not as effectively enforced as in January 1978.

Mr M. G. Ramachandran has the strong support of thirty-three per cent of the persons surveyed. This is almost the same as the strong support he had a year ago. In addition about twenty per cent have a good opinion of him. Taking the female respondents alone, about thirty-five per cent strongly support him. Even though women voters give him more support, the difference is not very much. Among the men, thirty-two per cent strongly support him.

Taking respondents in the 21-30 age group, we find that forty per cent strongly support MGR. He gets good support from the young voters. On the other hand in the 41-60 age group only twenty-six percent support him.

We divided the respondents into seven groups in terms of their occupation. Among the coolies/landless labourers, as high as forty-six per cent of them strongly support MGR. His popularity is not low among the agriculturists among whom he has the support of thirty-three per cent. One third of the traders and craftsmen strongly support him. However among the professionals and office-workers only twenty per cent strongly support him. MGR is certainly a leader of the poorer sections of the population.

This is further confirmed by the fact that among the college-educated only twenty- three per cent strongly support him. But among the illiterates forty-one per cent strongly support him. The higher the level of education the lower the strong support for MGR. However, forty-three per cent of the college-educated have good opinion of him.

About 1800 respondents were interviewed by about 100 students who visited 400 villages and towns spread all over Tamil Nadu for the survey. The data were processed using a computer.