Volunteers put supporters’ awareness about bill to test

On Friday, IAC volunteers conducted a survey about the awareness levels of an average Anna supporter at Ramlila Maidan.

On Friday, IAC volunteers conducted a survey about the awareness levels of an average Anna supporter at Ramlila Maidan.

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These volunteers have prepared a questionnaire about the chief differences between the government’s Lokpal Bill and Jan Lokpal Bill. They are also asking the supporters how they got to know about the movement.

The idea, the volunteers say, is to educate these people about the Jan Lokpal Bill so that they could answer queries from the media and are aware about what they are supporting.

Around 12 noon on Friday, volunteers started doing rounds of the ground, asking supporters to fill up the form. “A lot of questions have been raised about whether those supporting the Jan Lokpal Bill are actually aware of its features. So we decided to quiz the supporters about it. We have surveyed 500 people. The results will be compiled soon,” said Ashu Chauhan, one of the volunteers.

Though the volunteers wanted to continue the exercise for a longer period but they ran out of questionnaires on Friday. So, the survey will commence once more on Saturday once a fresh batch of questionnaires arrive from the printers.

“It is a good exercise. It is necessary that those who are not aware can become more informed once that lot is identified,” said Kuldeep Singh, a supporter who filled the form.

The form asks specific questions about how people got to know about the anti-graft movement, had they had taken part in any social movement earlier, whether they can distinguish between the two Bills and what the special features of the Jan Lokpal Bill are.

Kiran Bedi, member of Team Anna, had also taken a few classes initially informing supporters about the Jan Lokpal Bill.