Large number of Indians want Gadkari to be Petroleum Minister

New Delhi, July 13: Four days after the major reshuffle and expansion of Union Cabinet, when country got a new Petroleum Minister, a large number of Indians have opined that Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari should hold charge of the ministry to put a check on the unending spike in fuel prices and bring respite to people.

In a IANS-CVoter Live Newstracker survey after the statement of Gadkari in which he advocated more use of alternate fuels to bring down fuel prices, 49.6 per cent of the respondents said Gadkari should be given additional charge of Petroleum Ministry, but 34.5 per cent of those interviewed during the survey said that newly-appointed Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri will also prove to an efficient minister and work effectively to bring down the fuel prices in the country.

Rest of the respondents were not sure if Gadkari should be given additional charge of the Petroleum Ministry.

Free electricity and election winning formula, but affects revenue hampers essential services, the tracker found.

As political leaders ranging from AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal to Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav are making promises to provide free electricity if their party comes to power in the states, heading for Assembly elections in 2022, majority of Indians feel that the promise to provide free electricity is turning to be an election winning formula.

The IANS-CVoter Live Newstracker found 50.2 per cent of the respondents said that promise of free electricity is becoming a winning formula for elections, while 35.2 per cent opined that a party can't win elections just by the promise of free electricity. Remaining of those interviewed during the survey was not sure if promise of free electricity has emerged as an election winning formula or not.

Interestingly, majority of Indians also feel providing free electricity puts extra burden on the revenue of the states, which affects other essential services that are provided to the public.

To a question if supplying free electricity affects the state's revenues and hampers other essential services, 50.9 per cent of the respondents in the IANS-CVoter Live Newstracker replied "yes", while 35.3 per cent said that electricity does not affect the revenue of the states so much that other essential services provided to the public get affected. Rest of the respondents did not have an opinion on the issue.

Farmers should contest Punjab Assembly elections, the tracker found.

The IANS-CVoter Live Newstracker, after Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Gurnam Singh Chadhuni's proposal to contest the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections was rejected by the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, revealed that majority of Indians feel that farmers should form a political front and contest upcoming Assembly elections in Punjab to carry forward the fight for their rights.

According to the survey data, while 54.3 per cent of the respondents are of the view that farmers should enter electoral contest in the Punjab, and 35.4 per cent said farmers issues will not be solved by contesting Punjab polls. Rest of those, who participated in the survey were not sure if farmers should contest Punjab Assembly polls or not.

Despite the number of Corona cases going down significantly in the country and Haryana government announcing to open schools for students of classes 9 to 12 from July 16, a large number of Indians feel that opening schools at this point of time can prove to be dangerous.

As per the IANS-CVoter Live Newstracker, 47.1 per cent of the respondents said schools should not be opened now, but 44.0 per cent of those interviewed during the survey had a different view on the issue and said that schools should be opened now. Rest of the respondents appeared to be clueless about opening of schools during the pandemic.

As Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh is preparing to bring the population control law, majority of Indians are of the view that the nation needs a countrywide policy to control the population explosion.

The IANS-CVoter Live Newstracker saw 52.1 per cent of the respondents opine that the time has come to bring population control law for the entire country, 38.0 per cent said there is no need to bring population control laws for the entire country, and such laws should be introduced only in the states with more population. Remaining of those interviewed during the survey were not sure about a population control policy for the whole country.

As different state units of the Congress party continue to remain embroiled with infighting, a large number of Indians feel that the top leadership of the country's grand old party has failed to address the issues plaguing party's state units.

As per the IANS-CVoter Live Newstracker, while 48.3 per cent of the respondents said Congress leadership is consistently failing to resolve the infighting in state units of the party, 29.1 per cent feel that Congress leadership is successfully resolving the issues in all the state units of the party. At the same time, 22.4 percent of the respondents didn't have an opinion on the issue.