About this tracker

What is the foreign policy tracker?

In a world in flux, the Observer Research Foundation, in collaboration with Youth Ki Awaaz, has launched India’s first Foreign Policy Tracker to assess how Indians across various demographics and segments perceive the country’s foreign policy.

As India’s ambitions and role expand in this increasingly multipolar world, this bi-weekly initiative aims to capture a comprehensive view of the country’s foreign policy perceptions amidst a rapidly evolving geopolitical and geoeconomic environment. In doing so, it interrogates the nation’s leadership role, foreign policy goals and aspirations, management of strategic challenges, and engagement with global powers, neighbours, and like-minded countries.

By documenting these temporal trends, the tracker aims to bring the voices of citizens of the world’s largest democracy to the forefront and ensure more participatory policymaking.

Methodology

The India's Foreign Policy Perception Tracker represents a continuous measurement system designed to capture evolving public sentiment toward India's international relationships. Data collection operates through Yoot, a WhatsApp-based chatbot platform powered by Youth Ki Awaaz, enabling real-time pulse surveys among India's digitally-engaged population.

Participants who register for the panel receive staged voucher incentives for completing periodic survey modules, creating a dynamic respondent pool that expands weekly. This inaugural wave includes nearly 2000 respondents who participated between August 12 - September 2, 2025. Their responses have been used to establish baseline measurements for tracking shifts in public perception over time.

Preference rankings are analyzed using positional scoring systems, with temporal trends smoothed through locally weighted regression as data accumulates across survey waves. The tracker operates on flexible scheduling, conducting weekly or fortnightly rounds depending on the specific policy dimensions being measured.

All statistical analysis are performed using R programming language while interactive data visualizations are rendered through JavaScript deployed on a web app. As panel enrollment expands, the growing sample density will enable finer demographic breakdowns and improve precision in subgroup estimates, particularly for segments traditionally underrepresented in digital surveys. Future iterations of the tracker will incorporate adaptive sampling weights that dynamically adjust to panel composition changes, employing raking algorithms to align sample distributions with the latest census population benchmarks.