Labour of Love

• During this season, lower income groups match spending power of middle and higher income groups

These were some of the findings of a Valentine’s Day survey carried out by the Department of Economics of the University of Pune on February 14 last year. Twenty students from the department fanned out to college campuses and popular hangouts to quiz 677 youths in the age group of 17-35 years.

Working under the guidance of lecturer Rohini Sahni and research student V. Kalyan Shankar, the department has reason to believe that Valentine’s Day, ‘‘an interesting blend of economic and cultural influences’’, is here to stay.

‘‘The aim was to understand the concept behind Valentine’s Day celebrations in Pune and the response of the youth to it and not to establish whether it’s a welcome phenomenon or not. The results showed universal awareness of Valentine’s Day with close to 50 per cent of youths celebrating. The modes of celebration were giving cards, gifts and going out of town. Going out to eat/drink was the most popular with 60 per cent of the youth opting for it.

A surprising discovery was that the day had found takers in lower income groups. Awareness about anti-Valentine’s Day campaigns was also high. An overwhelming majority (73 per cent) disapproved of the campaign.