New Delhi: Price rise and unemployment are major concerns for Delhi’s urban poor ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, a study conducted in the slums of the national capital by Lokniti-CSDS in the first week of March suggested.
A major reason to worry is that 84% of the urban poor mentioned that their household income is not sufficient or falls short for meeting their needs — out of this, six in ten reported facing significant hardships, while three in ten acknowledged encountering some difficulty. The survey recorded the responses of 1,024 individuals, The Hindu reported.
On perceived increase in inflation over the last two years, nearly nine out of every ten respondents mentioned that it has increased significantly while close to one of every ten agreed that there’s a slight increase and the remaining said that there has not been much or any increase at all.
Underlining major financial hurdles, three-fourths of the respondents acknowledged a substantial increase in household essentials such as food items, LP gas and electricity. Moreover, six in ten noted a significant rise in healthcare and house rent costs and over half reported a significant increase in education expenses and public transportation fares.
Moreover, nearly half of the respondents suggested that there has been no discernible improvement in their lifestyle over the past two years. Further, merely 3% of the urban poor reported a substantial increase in their household income compared to expenses, while one sixth noted a somewhat increase.
For price prise, over four in ten held the Narendra Modi-led Central government responsible and a quarter blamed Kejriwal’s state government. Interestingly, 8% held the people themselves accountable, and 7% suggested that nobody should be blamed as “inflation is a widespread phenomenon”.
Unemployment
Around three fourth were employed and less than half the employed were engaged in some kind of a job, around one thirds of the employed were running small businesses and the others employed were involved in some part time jobs and work not clearly specified, The Hindu reported quoting the study.
Also read: Youth Made Up 82.9% of India’s Unemployed Population in 2022: ILO
Further, the survey highlighted that close to two of every ten slum dwellers identified themselves as homemakers and another one of every ten were students or those seeking employment opportunities. Notably, the CSDS study underlined that 45% of women in the slums were shouldering the financial responsibility for their families.
Major poll issues
Eight out of every ten urban poor said price rise and unemployment are very important issues for the upcoming parliamentary elections and six in ten noted the issue of corruption as a concern.
On a question related to single most important poll issue, 35% of the urban poor mentioned price rise and 18% cited unemployment. While 9% considered Modi’s leadership as a factor, 5% also identified Ram Mandir as an issue. Interestingly, the CSDS study underlined that though 87% of the urban poor acknowledged an increase in price rise over the last two years, only one in three considered it as a crucial voting issue.
