Unlike Chinese, Most Indians Are Affirmative
Rema Nagaraj | TIG
New Delhi: Given a choice, most Indians would like to be born as Indians
again. In an exclusive poll conducted by The Times of India, nearly 90% of
people in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad opted to be
Indians in a hypothetical next birth. Those polled were in the 18-35 age
group, and their overwhelming preference for India cut across religious and
gender divides.
This contrasts sharply with a recent online poll in China that asked the
same question. According to The Guardian, 64% of the roughly 10,000 Chinese
polled said they didn’t want to be reborn as Chinese-that is, before the
authorities shut it down.
TOI’s poll, conducted by leading market research agency TNS, showed that
despite Indians’ strong love for their country, their religious affiliations
were very strong. Among those favouring rebirth as non-Indians, a majority
(75%) wanted to follow their present religion. Mumbai was the only exception
with a significant 40% seeking rebirth as foreigners wishing to be born into
a different religion. THINK INDIAN,
LIVE ANYWHERE Unity in diversity cited as key reason for love of India
New Delhi: An exclusive fivemetro poll conducted by TOI reveals that an
overwhelming 90% of citizens would like to be reborn as Indians.
What’s the reason behind this strong love for India? ‘Unity in diversity’
was cited as reason number 1, proving the power of cliches. More than a
third said that’s why they wanted to be reborn Indian. Now, here’s a
twist-the one big reason why some didn’t want to be reborn as Indians was
that the country was divided along caste, community, linguistic and regional
lines. Diversity, as you can see, cuts both ways.
After unity in diversity, the second big reason for staying with India
in the next life was the country’s ‘rich spiritual heritage’. Among other
reasons cited for sticking with India were its ‘rapid economic progress’,
its ‘intellectual capabilities’ and its ‘great human resources’.
Unity in diversity was the clincher for 60% in Delhi, 42% in Hyderabad
and 33% in Kolkata. The big reason in Mumbai was, however, different-40%
said they would like to remain Indians in their next life because of its
rapid economic progress.
The margin between the materialists and spiritualists didn’t seem very
big in Mumbai-after economic progress, the big reason in the city was India’s
spiritual heritage, with 30% citing that as the clincher for wishing to
remain Indian in the next life. In Bangalore, too, India’s spiritual
heritage was the clincher at 33%.
The belief that Indians have better intellectual capabilities was the
main reason for 21% in Hyderabad and 23% in Kolkata. Only in Hyderabad did a
significant portion (17%) rate India as becoming the biggest country in
terms of population and human resources as their main reason for remaining
Indian.
TOI-TNS tossed another question to those who wished to be reborn as
Indians-would they rather live in India or in another country? A little more
than half said they would like to stay in India. But there was no uniform
pattern.
For instance, in Delhi and Hyderabad, more than 90% chose to live in
India, while in Kolkata and Bangalore, almost all the respondents wanted to
live in some other country-an interesting case of identifying with the
civilisation but not with the nation-state.
Among the different religious communities, it was only among Sikhs that
those wanting to be born Indian but staying somewhere else outnumbered those
who wanted to stay at home. There were some variations across gender too.
Nearly 70% of women wanted to be reborn as Indians and stay in India, as
against 47% of the men. Not surprisingly, the US was the first choice for
those wanting to be reborn Indian but opting for residence in another
country. Britain was the second choice and Switzerland a surprising third,
with Canada, Australia and Singapore behind the top three.
Innumerable Bollywood movies shot in picturesque Switzerland could
possibly be the reason why it’s a dream residence for many. The same
Bollywood influence could be behind the choice for Australia and New
Zealand.
In Delhi, an overwhelming 83% opted for the US, the rest for the UK. The
pattern is similar in Mumbai-first choice is the US, but its second choice
isn’t the UK but Dubai. Expectedly, nearly half the Sikhs wanting to be
foreigners in their next birth chose the US. Interestingly, except for 5%
from Bangalore, no one wanted to be born in China.
Among the Muslim respondents, too, the US was first choice, followed by
the UK and Dubai as joint second.
As to the reasons for not wanting to be reborn Indian, divisions over
religion and caste were reason No 1, followed by corruption and the “low
importance attached to human life”. For Mumbai, corruption seems a bigger
concern than divisions among people. In Bangalore, the top reason for nearly
60% was the difficulty in achieving social mobility in India.
For all minorities except the Sikhs, people being divided on issues of
religion and caste was the biggest issue, with more than half the Muslims
and Christians who chose to be reborn outside India citing this as the
reason. Among women respondents, too, the divide among people was the main
reason. Among men, it was corruption, followed by the lack of opportunities
to realise one’s full potential that were the most cited reasons. For Hindus
too, India not giving enough opportunity to people to realise their full
potential was the main reason.
Would those opting to be born as foreigners want to live in India? A
significant 36% said they would. In Mumbai, that figure was as high as 73%.
Among Muslims too more than half of those opting to be born foreigners said
they preferred to live in India, the only religious group for which this was
true.
Muslims-and Jains-also seemed most open to switching their religion
should they be reborn as foreigners. Again, it was the younger lot who
seemed more attached to their religious identity. In the 18-24 age group,
82% of respondents preferring a non-Indian rebirth chose to continue in the
same religion. The 24-35 age group in comparison had only about 70% who said
they wanted to continue with the same religion.