Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has released nationwide survey report on governance issues. Voters from MP have listed employment opportunities on top priority. Out of all the 8 Empowered Action Group (EAG) states, which are considered as most socio-economically backward, in 7 states including Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, better employment opportunities is the foremost voters’ priority.
Overall 61.91% respondents from MP in survey put employment issue on top. About 39.19% respondents from MP had put higher price realization for farm products as important poll issue- indicating agrarian crisis in state. MP voters gave below average ranking to performance of government in the survey conducted by ADR.
All 29 parliamentary constituencies of MP were part of the survey. The survey was conducted between October 2018 and December 2018. It covered 534 Lok Sabha constituencies with 2,73,487 voters participating in this exercise spread among various demographics. The three main objectives of this survey were to identify the voters’ priorities on specific governance issues, voters’ ratings of the government’s performance on those issues and factors affecting voting behaviour.
The survey highlights the voters’ priorities on 31 listed issues like employment opportunity, drinking water, electricity, roads, food, education, healthcare, public transport etc. in their regions in terms of its capacity, governance and specific role in improving their living conditions. Voters were asked to list their top five priorities.
Employment opportunities remain top concern country voters too
As per All India Survey 2018, Better Employment Opportunities (46.80%), Better Health Care (34.60%) and Drinking Water (30.50%) are the top three voters’ priorities at the all India level, followed by Better Roads (28.34%) and Better Public Transport (27.35%) at the fourth and the fifth place, respectively.
The top 10 voters’ priorities that Indian voters prioritize employment and basic amenities like Healthcare, Drinking Water, Better Roads etc. over governance issues including Terrorism and Strong Defence/Military. The government’s performance score on the top 10 voters’ priorities is below average, concluded the survey.
This evidently indicates that the voters are unsatisfied with the government’s performance. Hence, the government needs to prioritise and invest more particularly in these sectors. On Better Employment Opportunities, which is the top most voters’ priority, the performance of the government has been rated as one of the worst (2.15 on a scale of 5).
