Why India needs a people’s pulse metric
“Vote Chori”. Two words that seek to strike at the heart of democracy.
Rahul Gandhi’s allegations, even if true, are trivial against the vast mandate of the elections.
Yet they are being inflated into a national drama, planting seeds of distrust and flirting with regime change goals through agitations.
Street protests, media noise, and WhatsApp forwards can neither resolve this issue nor build public opinion.
As argued in my earlier article, “Need for Official Opinion Polls on Current Issues”[1], most major agitations, whether over farm laws, CAA, or whatever, have been spearheaded by a loud minority, while the vast majority have had no platform to voice their views.
Governments often had to bend, not because the nation was against reforms, but because the governments simply didn’t know how to prove that the majority wasn’t with the agitators.
If governments can transparently measure public opinion and publish it regularly, they can respond with legitimacy and foresight rather than firefighting in the streets and through the media..
Need for a measure of the people’s pulse
In other words, what India needs is a National Pulse Metric on policy and governance issues of social, political, and economic importance, and also the process of conducting the elections.
A system that continuously measures what people actually feel about these.
Not necessarily what the opposition or street agitators, or even the government, want people to feel about these.
As we move towards the ‘One Nation, One Poll’ model, governments will need continuous feedback to avoid drifting away from the people.
For policymakers, the absence of systematic, credible data on public mood is a gap that has repeatedly derailed reforms and weakened growth, not just in India but the world over.
Multi-layered model
A multi-layered approach may work well and yet be cost-effective.
Online/ mobile-based quantitative dipstick surveys can be at the first level, low cost, and capture the broad spectrum of Indian opinion. They can be quick, broad checks on sentiment, limited to a maximum of 5 sharp questions per week on current issues.
When they reveal potential anxieties or are publicly questioned, the next step can be rigorous monthly/ quarterly/ need-based (mainly quantitative) surveys conducted on the ground, polling representative samples. These will carry far greater legitimacy.
Finally, if a situation demands, intensive, field-based, scientifically supervised quantitative-cum-qualitative surveys can put doubts to rest once and for all.
Media partnerships can ensure findings reach the public, grounding debates on data, not noise.
This layered structure can combine speed with credibility.
- Quick dipsticks prevent misinformation from festering.
- Rigorous follow-ups, where needed, anchor legitimacy.
- Intensive surveys, if further needed, provide final closure.
The benefits of national pulse metric
To reassure citizens: People must know their voices and concerns are heard and addressed continuously, not just once every 5 years. This will reduce the space for conspiracy theories, which are the usual basis of protests and agitations
- Trust is the currency of democracy; it should not be allowed to be devalued.
To reassure silent majorities: Policies will no longer be hostage to the loudest voices. Expressed opinion is the oxygen of democracy. Without it, governance suffocates.
To reassure governments: Governments can act boldly when data shows the majority supports their actions and reforms.
To caution governments & institutions: If surveys reveal deepening distrust, the governments, Election Commission, judiciary, or whichever institution is under the scanner, can act early and regain trust.
- A stitch in time saves more than nine when the fabric is democracy itself.
- Small grievances resolved early are far less expensive than large-scale unrest later.
To expose fake agitations: With transparent surveys and results, vested interests lose the power to manufacture unrest on false grounds.
- If a credible, official, publicly accepted Metric exists, and the governments are confident of public support, even if silent, they can act boldly.
- Often, reforms don’t fail because they are wrong, but because people’s trust in them was never measured.
To ensure growth: India has ambitious targets – economic growth with job creation, leading to Viksit Bharat 2047.
- Periodic unrest will derail progress.
- Continuous feedback will keep the nation moving forward.
Institutional framework for credibility
These surveys and analyses should be done by independent professional agencies and supervised by an independent expert body to carry weight and credibility.
A compact National Opinion Council can oversee this Metric.
Retired judges, domain specialists, commentators, and politicians from across the spectrum, in proportion to their presence in Parliament and state assemblies, can guide it.
This is vital. Without oversight, the Metric risks being seen as government propaganda.
With oversight, it could become a national institution of trust.
Anonymised data and sampling methods should be released publicly with mandatory audits.
The bigger picture
There are dark clouds of regime changes the world over, especially closer to home. Some could be genuine, but many look plotted by foreign forces in collusion with forces from within.
India has suffered repeated regime changes inflicted by foreign forces for centuries, conspiring with local actors.
We can’t afford any more. Not when we are working our way towards Viksit Bharat after 75 years of toil.
India has had a glimpse of some nasty agitations in recent years, like the ones over farm laws and CAA. They have been shaped by the vocal minority, while the views of the silent majority have remained unheard.
We cannot afford to stumble from agitation to agitation.
Governments are often forced to bend under the pressure of engineered public opinion, not because the nation is against reforms, but because they simply don’t know or can’t prove where the majority stands.
Protests thrive in such informational vacuums. Genuine grievances must always find redressal.
But fake or externally instigated unrest must be exposed before it takes root.
Way forward
India is not only the world’s largest democracy, but also arguably the best one in comparison to even Western democracies; we are becoming more aware of this in recent times.
The government should pilot a People’s Pulse Metrics program in a few states, under the National Statistical Department, guided by a multi-party National Surveys Council.
Soon India could pioneer the world’s first real-time democratic feedback system, and become the world’s most listening, a model democracy, if you will.
Because in a true democracy, silence is not consent, unless you ask.
Conclusion
Allegations like “Vote Chori” may not vanish. But they can at least be prevented from being used as regime-change tools.
With a credible, transparent system that measures the pulse of the nation regularly, India can replace suspicion with evidence, noise with knowledge, and unrest with reassurance.
Opinion is the oxygen of democracy. And without oxygen, governance will suffocate.
Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
Reference:
[1] Need for official opinion polls on current issues – Dec 12, 2020, PGurus.com
For all the latest updates, download PGurus App.
- Middle-income by 2047: Trap or sweetspot? - October 13, 2025
- Can Zoho topple Microsoft? A strategic wedge, Part 2 - October 2, 2025
- Can Zoho topple Microsoft?… Part 1 - September 30, 2025
