Breaking news: Indians don’t believe in ghosts anymore, superstitions have reduced, awareness of HIV/AIDS has increased and there is more acceptance of AIDS patients.

On the flip side, knowledge on nuclear technology or biotechnology is rather sketchy. These are the conclusions of an ongoing survey at Kumbh mela. And lest you think the results are somewhat more rosy than they should be, the researchers — scientists from Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) — assure that they have spoken to all sections of the society.

“In fact, Kumbh was chosen since nowhere else in the country can one find such variety of people,” said Gauhar Raza, chief scientist of National Institute of Scientific Communication and Information — a part of CSIR — who is leading the team.

The survey, which began on February 14, would be over by February 20.

“It is a serial Kumbh survey that we have been doing since 1989. The idea is to assess how Indians’ scientific temper has been changing,” Reza added.