Religion in India
How do Indians feel about living in such a religiously diverse society? What are the dynamics among India’s various religious groups in both public and private life? And in a democracy with a large Hindu majority, how do Indians view the relationship between Hindu identity and Indian identity?
Dr. Neha Sahgal, associate director of research at Pew Research Center, will talk about findings from a major new Pew Research Center survey of religion across India, based on nearly 30,000 face-to-face interviews conducted in 17 languages between late 2019 and early 2020 (before the COVID-19 pandemic), exploring the role of religion in Indian public life. The study is part of a larger effort by Pew Research Center to understand religious change and its impact on societies around the world.
The nationally representative study, Pew Research Center’s biggest single-country survey outside of the United States to date, provides insights into the experiences and attitudes not only of Hindus and Muslims, but also of Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs and Jains living in India.
NEHA SAHGAL
Dr. Neha Sahgal is associate director of research at Pew Research Center, specializing in international polling on religion. Sahgal is involved in all aspects of survey research, including designing the questionnaire, monitoring field work, evaluating data quality and analyzing results. She is an author of studies on the religious beliefs and practices of Muslims around the world, Christian-Muslim relations in sub-Saharan Africa, religion in Latin America, religious divisions in Israel, religion and national identity in Central and Eastern Europe and the role of religion in Western Europe.
Sahgal has been invited to speak about the project’s research at universities, religious organizations and government agencies such as the U.S. Department of State and the European Union. She also talks about the Center’s findings in international print and broadcast media.
Before joining the Pew Research Center, Sahgal worked at The Asia Foundation in San Francisco. She received her doctorate in government and politics, with a concentration in the comparative politics of the Middle East and South Asia, from The University of Maryland in 2008.
Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research. It does not take policy positions.
Website: https://www.pewresearch.org/about/
