Home | Biodata | Biography | Photo Gallery | Publications | Tributes [Back to Surveys List] Political - Socio - Economic-Surveys

The questionnaire is prepared and modified in order that truthful answers may be extracted. The investigators are trained so that they do not bring back 'junk' data. A small but time-consuming and tiring job is the preparation of railway concessions. Once this is done the students set off. A week later they return. Their work is done. But the survey is not complete.

The light in the Statistics Department burns through the night and II M.Sc. students work in two shifts to get the data analysed. The giant computer at IIT, Madras, programmed by Sivakurnar, is made use of to process the data. Then the report is formulated.

One does wonder whose resourceful brainwaves are responsible for such a major venture at a State-wide level. Of course the credit goes to Dr Gift Siromoney and the staff of the Department who pool in their time for the welfare of their students. Special mention is to be made of Miss S. Bala who worked tirelessly, day in and day out, to allocate villages, prepare questionnaires and railway concessions, receive news from the students while on the survey and collect the completed questionnaires.

More than eighty percent of the adult population of Tamil Nadu favour the continuance of prohibition. More than fifty percent of the people had not even heard of the Tamil script reform proposed by the Government. More than fifty percent of the people maintain that declaration of emergency has done a lot of good to the country.

These are some of the interesting findings of a multi-purpose survey conducted during the last week of January by the students of the Department of Statistics of the Madras Christian College. About ninety students interviewed nearly two thousand adults chosen carefully, from all over Tamil Nadu, using random sampling techniques. The students made use of a large computer to process the data.

Prohibition

Eighty-three percent disagreed with the statement that prohibition must be abolished in Tamil Nadu. A slightly higher percentage of people would like prohibition to be enforced throughout India. Public opinion favouring continuance of prohibition has been strong and stable in Tamil Nadu.

The Government of Tamil Nadu has brought in stringent laws to deal with prohibition offenders. What is the opinion of the common man about these stringent measures? More than three-fourths of the people welcome them. There is greater support among women than men for these strong measures. In fact, eighty percent of women in our sample support these measures.

In order to find out how effectively prohibition is being enforced now in Tamil Nadu, each respondent was asked the question whether he or she had actually seen people drunk during the previous week. As high as fifty percent of them admitted having seen people in a drunken state. However, in January 1978, the percentage was even higher and it was almost sixty percent. On the average, the situation has clearly improved compared to last year but the position is far from satisfactory. High incidence of reported drunkenness (more than two-thirds) is reported from Salem and Kanyakumari districts. In Madras City sixty-three percent had seen drunken people. Compared to last year's figure of seventy percent there is improvement but the situation is far from satisfactory. On the whole, many districts have shown very clear improvement. However, in the districts of South Arcot, Tiruchi and Thanjavur the situation has, in fact deteriorated compared to last year. For example, in January 1978 forty-three percent of those in our sample from South Arcot district admitted having seen drunkenness but this year a higher percentage of fifty-nine percent have seen people drunk. Further detailed investigations are necessary to confirm these preliminary findings.

Reform of Tamil Script

The Government of Tamil Nadu has introduced some changes in the Tamil Script. Fifty-five percent of the people in our sample had not even heard of the changes proposed by the government. Among those who had heard of the changes and wished to express their opinion, fifty percent were of the view that the Tamil Script is good as it is and the government should not interfere in matters like this. Furthermore, another seven percent disagreed with the government's proposal but felt that the script is in need of change. Only the rest, which form a minority, agreed with the government's proposal.

Taking only those who are strong supporters of Chief Minister M. G. Ramachandran, as high as two-thirds have not even heard of the proposed reform. Among those who have a good opinion of him, taking only those who have heard of the change proposed by the government, a clear majority are of the view that the Tamil Script is good as it is and the government should not interfere in matters like this. In our survey a respondent may have a good opinion of more than one leader but he can be a strong supporter of only one political leader. It is clear that the government does not have adequate public support regarding its proposal to change the Tamil Script.

Emergency

Fifty-five percent of the respondents in the sample agreed with the statement 'Declaration of emergency did a lot of good to the country'. In a survey conducted a year ago, only forty percent were of this view. Thus, there is greater support for emergency now compared to last year. Ten percent had not heard of the emergency and only twenty-three percent disagree with the statement. Others have no opinion.

The multipurpose survey was conducted as part of practical training for the students of the Department of Statistics of Madras Christian College.