New Delhi, January 31: Almost three-fourths feel that after Narendra Modi became Prime Minister, inflation has been unchecked and prices have gone up, as per the IANS-CVoter Budget Tracker. This is the highest percentage in PM Modi's tenure, at 72.1, who feel this way compared to a low of 17.1 per cent in 2015. In 2020, only 10.8 per cent of the respondents said that prices have gone down while 12.8 per cent said nothing has changed. The Modi government in 2020 is getting the worst score on the economic front since 2014.

As many as 46.4 per cent said that under Prime Minister Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the performance of the Central government on the economic front so far has been worse than expected. A lesser number of 31.7 per cent said the performance is better than expected. This is worst score for any government since 2010 except in 2013 when Manmohan Singh was Prime Minister. COVID-19 Pandemic Effect: Most Indians Feel Common Man’s Quality of Life Deteriorated in 2020.

On the adverse impact of inflation in the last one year, 38.2 per cent said there has been too much impact while 34.3 per cent said there has been a little bit impact. Almost half the respondents said that the quality of life has deteriorated in the last one year. As much as 48.4 per cent said that the overall quality of life of the 'Aam Aadmi' or the common man has deteriorated in the last one year while 28.8 per cent said it has improved and 21.3 per cent said it has remained the same.

However, there is optimism for the coming year as 37.4 per cent respondents in the survey believe that in the next one year, the quality of life of a common man will improve. However, 25.8 per cent still feel that quality of life will deteriorate while 21.7 per cent say it will remain the same.

More than half said that at least Rs 20,000 per month is required for average quality of life for a family of four while 23.6 per cent said the figure is higher at Rs 30,000 per month. A smaller percentage said higher figures going as high as more than Rs 1 lakh. To a question on whether this much income should be made tax free, as many as 81.4 per cent said yes.

There are obvious challenges on the household front as a majority are complaining that income has either stagnated or gone down while expenditure has gone up. The hardship can be gauged by the fact that 43.7 per cent said that while income has remained the same, expenditure has gone up while another 28.7 per cent said that income has gone down in the last one year while expenditure has gone up.

Almost two thirds or 65.8 per cent said that expenses are becoming difficult to manage compared to last year while 30 per cent said expenses have gone up but are still manageable. The sample size of the poll is 4,000 plus and the fieldwork for the survey was done in third-fourth week of January 2021. The theme of the survey is "Expectations from the Union Budget".

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 31, 2021 07:58 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).