Washington: A majority of Indians feel Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has good influence on the nation and have cited terrorism as a 'very big problem' facing the country.

Results for India from the 2002 Global Attitudes Survey by the Washington-based Pew Research Centre for the People and the Press, released on December 4, said 84 per cent of Indians have an unfavourable opinion of Pakistan, while just five per cent talked in favour of that country.

The Global Attitudes Project conducted personal interviews with a random sample of 2,189 Indians from September 12 to 21, 2002. The questionnaire was administered in five different languages or dialects. The error margin is plus or minus 2.1 percentage points.

By nearly 10-to-one, more Indians are dissatisfied (83 per cent) than satisfied (nine per cent) with the way things are going in their nation, the survey said.

Nine-in-10 people in India (90 per cent) cite terrorism as a very big problem in their country, far more than any other nation except Bangladesh (92 per cent).

Three-quarters of Indians (74 per cent) say Vajpayee is having a good influence on the nation, making him one of the most popular national leaders in the 44 nations surveyed. Just 18 per cent say Vajpayee is a bad influence.

By an overwhelming 85 per cent to two per cent margin, Indians say the military's influence on the nation is good and not bad. Among the citizens of other major nations, only Americans (87 per cent to nine per cent) and Pakistanis (84 per cent to nine per cent) are as universally favourable toward the armed forces in the country.

PTI