ABP-CVoter Pre-budget Snap Poll: From Sitharaman’s Performance To Free Covid Vaccine, Here’s What The Common Man Expects

ABP Budget Snap Polls: While the nation awaits Budget 2021, ABP News in collaboration with C-Voter conducted a Snap Poll to understand the perception of people with regards to the union budget.

Nirmala Sitharaman, PTI

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman will table the Union Budget 2021 on 1st February in the parliament. Citizens have high expectation from the budget as the country face unprecedented situations after Coronavirus hit the country and India went under lockdown. While people are trying to bring their life back on track, there are certain sectors which need serious reforms. 

The common man also has high expectations from the Budget to improve their lives along with the country's economy.

While the nation awaits Budget 2021, ABP News in collaboration with C-Voter conducted a Snap Poll to understand the perception of people with regards to the union budget.

ABP News began the Snap Poll with questions related to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. 

We asked how was FM Nirmala Sitharaman's performance last year? In response to this 37.5% people said that they are satisfied with her approach and work and said her performance was 'good'. While 19.4 per cent people believed that her performance was 'average' as the Finance Minister. 33.1 per cent people were not satisfied with her work and called her work 'poor'.

ABP News asked Who is your second choice as Finance Minister?

While people had many options in their minds, the majority wanted Amit Shah to be the Finance Minister of the country. 24.4% people believed that Amit Shah will be good if he takes over the Finance department while 19.9 per cent people said that Piyush Goyal will play a good role being the country's FM. 19.8 per cent people also pitched for Nitin Gadkari while 13.6 per cent of people thought Rajnath Singh would be a good choice. 

Some people also suggested Sushil Modi, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, and Dharmendra Pradhan can do the job well.

Moving ahead ABP news asked questions related to Covid pandemic and the Snap polls suggested that 65.9% people did not get the financial relief provided by the government during Coronavirus. 28.8 per cent people said that they received relief from the steps taken by the Centre and others couldn't answer the question.

ABP News asked if people want free Covid vaccine? Responding to this 73.1 per cent people said that they would be happy if the government declared the Corona vaccine free of cost while 22.4 per cent people said that they would want to pay for it considering the efforts of the company and the medical workers.

Next question was for taxpayers, ABP News questioned people if they want govt to provide relief to tax payers owing to the loses during Covid pandemic?

72.7 per cent people answered affirmative to the question as they suffered a huge loss during the lockdown while 20.2% said that they would be satisfied even if govt did not provide such relief.

Considering the Agricultural sector, ABP News said asked what are people expecting for farmers in the Union Budget?

31.6 per cent people believed that government will make fertilisers and seeds cheaper for farmers while 25.7 per cent are expecting a big package announcmement in the upcoming budget. 6.4% people said that they expect govt to bring more farmers under the direct benefit transfer scheme while 15.6 per cent strongly opined that the govt will do not do any of the above things.

Moving on to the sectoral reforms, ABP news along with CVoter asked people if they think govt will take steps to revive the real estate sector?

54.6 per cent people believe that government will definitely take some steps to improve the real estate sector while 28.3 per cent said that govt might not bring relief for the people involved in real estate.

Tourism industry was the worst hit during the Coronavirus pandemic, so ABP News asked people what relief should govt bring for people of Tourism industry?

A majority of 28.6 % people believe that a package will be announced by the government in the Union Budget to bring relief for Tourism industry. 28.1 per cent people said that they expect some other relief for the tourism industry. 11.6 % think that airline tickets will become cheaper while 8.4 per cent people expect hotels to become less costly. 23.6 per cent believe that govt will not provide any relief for the sector.

The next question was, if people think if govt will provide tax relief to home buyers to revive the housing sector? A majority of 48.7 per cent believe that government will take steps to reform the sector while 36.4 per cent people think there will be no action by the government. 14.9 per cent did not have any answer to the question.

As most of the schools and colleges operated online this year ABP News asked if the government should issue guidelines to reduce the school/college fee?

A majority of 81.7 per cent people want the government to make an announcement for reduction of fee in both schools and colleges while 12.4 per sent people do not want centre to take such steps.

As India became more tech-savvy during the pandemic and from younger to older generations relied on internet, we asked people if the government should make computers, mobiles, and the internet cheaper?

83.4 per cent people gave an affirmative response to the question while 13.6 per cent do not want cheaper internet or mobile phones.

Taking note of the country's health situation and witnessing a surge in people registering for health insurance, ABP News asked if govt should increase the tax exemption limit on health insurance?

67.4 per cent people want the government to take such steps while 21.6 per cent do not want such relief. 10.9 % couldn't say if they want centre to take any action.

With a significant surge in demand for healthcare products after covid 19 hit the country, ABP News asked if people want the government to make medicines and health care products affordable?

A big majority of 91.5 % people want centre to reduce the cost of medicines and other health-related products while 4.4 per cent are fine with the present cost.

The next question was should the government spend as much as possible to revive the economy?

74.4 per cent people want the government to do anything to bring the economy back on track while 15.4% think govt shouldn't take such steps. 

The last question of the Snap poll was, Do you think the economy will revive considering the speed at which Sensex is growing?

53.7 per cent think that considering the surge in Sensex the Indian economy will be back on track while 35.4 % people believe it will take time and we need to analyse better. 10.9 per cent people did not have any judgment.