What the community wants
Conducting polls that can accurately reflect the sentiments of the community are expensive propositions. Drawing up a questionnaire that is objective, concise, comprehensible, employing researchers to visit homes, analyzing the data and presenting it in an easy to understand format is time consuming and costly.
For large corporations and organizations who need to gauge the public’s preferences on particular products or services, such polls are mandatory. Political parties trying to assess their chance of winning a particular election and news organizations that want to keep the reader clued in to the potential winners and losers will spend lakhs of rupees to ascertain the possible outcome.
Despite all the scientific advancements, the plethora of data available, the use of computers and advanced software, errors — marginal and gross — do occur in ascertaining the public’s preferences. Thus it was with some trepidation we examined the findings of the polls conducted on our website, parsiana.com. We do not know who the respondents are or where they are from and are therefore unable to judge how accurately the results reflect the thinking of the community on issues of concern to them.
Since December 2012 Parsiana has conducted 10 online polls on subjects ranging from "Would you object to women being mobeds (priests)?" to "Do World Zoroastrian Congresses serve a purpose?" What surprised us is that the results of some of our various online polls were similar to what we obtained from the poll conducted for Parsiana as part of our 50th anniversary celebrations by the reputed Hansa Research Group in November 2013.
For example, both in the Hansa and online poll we asked if the Doongerwadi bunglis should be used for funerary ceremonies by those opting for alternate means of disposal to dakhmenashini. Both polls showed an overwhelming agreement on the use of the bunglis for the purpose, with the Hansa poll results being 80% in favor and the online poll totaling 77%.
Was the community in favor of the new Prayer Hall being constructed for Parsis and others at the Worli crematorium operated by the Bombay Municipal Corporation? Seventy-one percent said yes in the poll conducted from June 14 to July 11, 2014. The A. H. Wadia Trust has donated Rs 1.87 crores for the project which Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) and WAPIZ (World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis) founder trustees Khojeste Mistree and Yazdi Desai have claimed should have been put to welfare activities instead. They were countering criticism that the Rs 2.5 to three crores spent by the BPP on the priests ban case should have funded social causes as versus enriching lawyers and puffing the egos of the trustees.
These findings emphatically counter the claims of Mistree and Desai who justify the expenditure on litigation to ban two priests from praying at Doongerwadi and two agiaries because they performed funerary rites for those opting for cremation. In the Jam-e-Jamshed (August 10, 2014) they write: "Clearly as a 350-year-old institution the BPP trustees have to take a principled stand and support the majority view (italics ours) of the community…any litigation is going to cost a lot of money and the BPP trustees are very aware of this, but on the other hand do we succumb to ideological pressure brought upon us from a wealthy minuscule elite (italics ours)?"
Surely 80% of the community cannot be termed "a minuscule elite." Mistree and Desai cite no source for their contention that the majority of the community supports their dogmatic point of view. This is why polls are crucial to nail the unsubstantiated claims made by leaders to bolster their partisan stands.
On the subject of reducing the number of years of a trustee’s term from seven to four or five, again there was agreement. In the Hansa poll 68% wanted a reduction while the online poll which asked if the term should be restricted to four years saw an identical 68%! Perhaps the trustees may consider making the change as it is by a "majority" and not a "minuscule elite."
But there were differences also between the two polls. In the Hansa poll 81% voted that women should not be allowed to become priests in comparison to the online poll where 77% were in favor of women becoming priests.
Of course the sample size of the Hansa poll and the online one varies greatly. Hansa interviewed 500 Bombay based Parsis whose names were randomly selected from the BPP voter rolls. The online poll response numbers fluctuate between 25 to 100 and the respondents could be from anywhere in the world. The number of those participating, however, has been increasing as the website gains in popularity.
In the July 2014 poll, in response to a query whether the Wadia baugs should be managed by the Wadia Committee of Management or the BPP, 70% responded in favor of the Wadias. There has been a spat between the two organizations ever since the BPP withdrew two crore rupees from the Wadia Committee account for the populist priests amelioration project without consulting the Wadias. The BPP trustees and the Wadias are members of the management committee. The Wadias contend the amount is earmarked for the colonies while the BPP claims it can do what it chooses with the money.
As to whether non-Parsis should be permitted to see the face of the deceased after the geh sarna ceremony, 53% said "no" (December 3 to December 31, 2013).
Whether Parsis would stop taking painkillers containing diclofenac and all other similar preparations in the event of a vulture aviary being constructed at Doongerwadi, 42% said "yes," 42% said "no" and 15% said "can’t say."
Sixty percent of those responding to the May 9 to June 30, 2013 poll were not in favor of Parsi baugs that are used for community weddings and navjotes being booked by non-Parsis.
The online polls could serve as a starting point for more scientific studies on the community’s attitudes, mores and outlook. They could help dispel myths and provide insights for future course of action.
And the amount involved will be a mere fraction of what is spent on feuding.