New Delhi, (Samajweekly) There is a major negative change in sentiment for the Union Budget 2021-22 as compared to last year, as per the IANS C-Voter Budget Insta-Poll.
The poll, which was conducted after the presentation of the Budget in the Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, included a sample size of 1,200 people selected randomly across all demographics.
The overall score given by the respondents to Budget 2021-22 is 5.3 points, as compared to a much higher rating of 7.1 last year.
As per the poll, 46.1 per cent respondents said that prices will not at all come down after the Budget while 18.1 per cent said they will come down to a large extent.
Over half of the respondents in the survey or 50.7 per cent said that the overall quality of life in the last one year has deteriorated. This is the worst score for the Modi government since 2015. Last year, only 31.3 per cent said the quality of life had deteriorated.
There is some optimism for the coming year as 27.6 per cent expect the quality of life to improve in the next one year while a bigger number of 29 per cent expects it to deteriorate. Last year, 53.7 per cent said they expected the quality of life to improve in the coming year.
More than half or 56.4 per cent of the respondents expect the Budget to push up monthly expenses rather than leaving more money in their hands, while only 16.1 per cent expect the Budget to help them save more. Last year, 47.3 per cent expected the Budget to push up prices.
Forty-five per cent of the respondents said they are not satisfied with the Budget, while 35.8 per cent said they are satisfied with it. Last year, 64.2 per cent had said they were satisfied with the Budget.
A question on the anti-black money provisions in the Budget drew an optimistic response with a large section fully or somewhat satisfied with the measures announced in the Budget.
On expectations of day-to-day expenses in the next one year, 49.7 per cent expect that they will become difficult to manage, while 34 per cent said though expenses will go up, they will remain manageable.
On the performance of the team of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, 36.4 per cent said it has been worse than expected while 25.1 per cent said it has been better than expected and 27.6 per cent said it has been just as expected. Last year, 42 per cent had said that the performance has been better than expected.
