People not impressed; fear what lies ahead

New Delhi: Many have been left confused or clueless by the Union Budget 2021 with the 'can't say' category showing up in sizeable numbers on several important issues, as per the IANS-C Voter Budget Snap Poll 21.

The most astounding example of this is the main focus of the Budget. Believe it or not, among all the choices from farmers to health to taxes, the 'can't say' category holds the majority with 28.6 per cent respondents saying so.

Within this, the granular details show that the low-income group is most ambiguous with 31.9 per cent saying 'can't say' but even in the middle-income group confusion prevails with 24.6 per cent taking the 'can't say' option.

The low-income group has a 21.7 per cent 'can't say' segment on whether angry farmers will be happy with the announcements. 21.8 per cent in the segment opined 'can't say' when asked if more announcements were made in the Budget for election bound states.

Interestingly, 18.5 per cent of the high-income group were in the fence sitters' camp when asked about if the Budget indicates that the treasury is empty. In the low-income group, 19 per cent respondents could not say if the Budget presented by the Finance Minister met expectations.

The middle class expected much more from the Union Budget 2021 presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday, as per the IANS-C Voter Budget Snap Poll 2021.

The most decisive verdict of the poll conducted with a sample size of 1200 respondents is that 60.9 per cent said that as the middle class they expected more from the Budget while 26.5 per cent said no.

To articulate the worries over inflation, 59.6 per cent said that inflation will increase after the Budget while 25.2 per cent said otherwise. To the majority, the country's fiscal deficit stands at 9.5 per cent and is a big concern. 59 per cent said it is a big concern while 27 per cent said it is not.

The focus of the Budget for 2021 is not clear to many respondents. As many as 28.6 per cent could not identify the main focus of the exercise while 27.4 per cent said it was farmers and 22 per cent said it was health, 13.9 per cent said it was to collect money. However, people are happy with the increased outlays for health.

47.4 per cent said they are happy that the government has increased the health budget by 135 per cent while 35.1 per cent said they are not happy. A slim majority of 40.9 per cent said that the angry farmers will not be happy with the announcements while 40.2 per cent said yes.