Citizens of Delhi rate 5-year performance of Delhi Government via LocalCircles
- • 49% citizens rate performance as good or higher, another 19% rate it as average
- • 30% rate the performance as poor or worse, 2% didn’t have an opinion
When the Arvind Kejriwal led AAP Government came into power in 2015, people’s expectations from them were sky-high. The Government got elected with an unprecedented majority of 67 of the 70 assembly seats and on the promise of drastically reducing corruption and improving life of Delhiites. It started out with big announcements, many controversies in its initial years but then it appears that the loss of the municipal elections in April 2017 led to a reset and a change of approach. Since then, according to the people of Delhi, things have improved on the ground in multiple areas like school education, water availability and power.
To better understand the aggregate public pulse, LocalCircles conducted a large survey in Delhi and asked Delhiites about the performance of the AAP led Government in the last 5 years. The 11-poll survey received more than 110,000 responses from citizens living in various parts of Delhi.
The first question asked residents of Delhi about the improvements in water supply in Delhi. The residents were asked to rate the same on the basis of improvement in availability, billing accuracy and quality. 33% citizens said there has been a significant improvement in the last 5 years and 23% said there has been a little improvement. 18% said there has been no improvement in water supply at all while 26% said it has become worse.
56% citizens say there has been improvement in water supply in Delhi in last 5 years
When compared with last year, along with the percentage of Delhiites who voted for ‘significant improvement’, people who voted for ‘gotten worse’ has also increased. This might be an indication that the Delhi Government is doing well in improving water supply in some areas of Delhi but not so well in the others.
Citizens continue to rate improvement in water supply in Delhi high over time
Delhi Government is proud of the work they have done in the healthcare sector and allocated 14% of its total budget 2019-20 to it, compared to the 5% average of other states. Hospitals have been upgraded and other initiatives like mohalla clinics, Government bearing the expenses of emergency accident victims when taken to private hospitals, etc. have been appreciated by the residents.
In the poll, 43% Delhiites said that there has been a significant improvement in healthcare services in Delhi in last 5 years. 23% said there has been some improvement while 21% said there has been no improvement. 13% said the situation has become worse. People voted considering key parameters as availability, affordability and quality.
66% citizens feel healthcare services in Delhi have improved in the last 5 years
The comparison with last year shows that the percentage of people voting for significant improvement has increased from 27% to 43%, proving that good work has been done by the Delhi Government in this area.
Citizens continue to rate improvements in healthcare services in Delhi higher over time
Improvement in power supply and lower bills emerged areas that have made people happy, with 51% calling the improvement in the last 5 years as significant and 29% saying that there has been some improvement. 14% said there has been no improvement while 6% said the power situation has become worse. Citizens were asked to vote considering key parameters as availability, affordability and customer service.
80% citizens say power supply in Delhi has improved in the last 5 years
The percentage of people saying power supply in Delhi has significantly improved, has also increased from 36% in 2018 to 51% in 2019.
Citizens continue to rate improvements in power supply in Delhi higher over time
The Arvind Kejriwal led Government earmarked Rs. 15,133 crores to education in the Budget 2019-20 which is nearly a quarter of its total budget, much higher than the 16% average by other states. Considering the key parameters as availability, affordability and quality, it emerged as one of the big wins for the Delhi Government with 58% Delhiites saying there has been significant improvement in school education is Delhi in the last 5 years and 16% saying there has been some improvement. 20% said there has been no improvement in this area while 6% said situation has worsened.
74% citizens feel school education in Delhi has improved in the last 5 years
58% this year, compared to 37% last year said there has been a significant improvement in school education in Delhi under the present Government.
Citizens continue to rate improvements in school education in Delhi higher over time
Launched in September 2018, the citizen services at the doorstep was a trademark initiative of the Delhi Government. Earlier this month, the Government announced that Delhiites can now avail 100 services at their doorsteps, though this initiative which is a first of its kind in the world. Per the Government, the application success rate through this mode has been 91%, compared to 57% through the office window mode.
15% citizens rated the initiative as excellent, 21% as good and 11% as average. 5% said it works but it is difficult to get work done while 28% said the initiative is completely ineffective. 20% were unsure.
Citizen services at doorstep initiative of Delhi Government working well; only 28% citizens call it ineffective
In 1 year, over 200% rise in number of citizens who gave thumbs up to Services at Doorstep initiative of Delhi Government
Next question asked citizens how do they rate Delhi Government’s efforts in the last 5 years to improve air quality. 15% rated it excellent, 16% good, 17% average and 51% rated the efforts poor.
48% citizens believe that the Delhi Government has taken steps in the last 5 years to improve air quality
Dangerous level of air quality has been one of the most burning issues affecting residents of Delhi for the last 4 years. While there has been a minor improvement as compared to 2015-16 levels, PM 2.5 levels on November 3, 2019 crossed 1000 in many parts of Delhi. Citizens have appreciated the efforts of the Delhi Government to control the pollution in the city. Although the efforts have not translated into impactful results but measures like odd-even rule, hanging gardens on metro pillars, air purifiers at some bus stops etc. were liked by the citizens. The survey results are a testament to this fact where 31% citizens this year compared to 6% last year said Delhi Government has exceeded expectations in trying to control pollution in the city.
Many more citizens of Delhi now appreciate efforts of Delhi Government to improve air quality
Delhi has a population of over 2.5 crores and only around 5500 DTC & cluster buses. This results in the public having to wait for a long time to catch a bus, only to find no place to sit as the bus is already over-crowded. 14% Delhiites in the poll said there has been no improvement in bus transportation services in Delhi under the current Government at all while 42% said it has gotten worse. 17% said there has been significant improvement and 27% said there has been a small improvement.
44% citizens say bus transportation in Delhi has improved in the last 5 years
India’s World Bank Ease of Doing Business Ranking has improved over the last 3 years and the index looks at Delhi and Mumbai in its evaluation. Starting and operating a business has become easier in Delhi over the last 3 years. When residents of Delhi were asked how do they rate ease of doing business in Delhi in the last 5 years, 21% citizens said there has been a significant improvement, 12% said there has been some improvement, 41% said no improvement while 26% said the situation has gotten worse.
1 in 3 citizens of Delhi now feels Doing Business in Delhi has become easier in the last 5 years
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal recently quoted a CAG report and said that their Government had increased expenditure on schools, hospitals, water and power, but was still able to maintain a revenue surplus in the last 5 years. He attributed this feat to no corruption and scams.
23% also said there has been a significant reduction in corruption under the Delhi Government in the last 5 years. 23% said the reduction has been minor while 14% said corruption has instead increased. Delhiites were clearly told that Police and Municipal governance does not come under the jurisdiction of the Delhi Government and it should not be included in their evaluation for a fair assessment.
46% citizens of Delhi say there has been reduction in corruption at Delhi Government offices in the last 5 years
40% citizens this year said there has been no reduction in corruption what so ever, which is a major increase from the 27% last year who said the same.
Corruption at Delhi Government offices continues to stay low over time
Aam Aadmi Party led Delhi Government has been criticized time and again for spending too much on self-promotion. As per stats, their total spent on advertising in this 5-year tenure is all set to cross the Rs. 350 crores mark. When citizens were asked what they felt about it, 63% citizens said that they believe Delhi Government spent excessively on advertising. 27% said the expenditure was appropriate while 10% said it was lower than what it should have been.
63% citizens believe that the Delhi Government spent excessively on advertising in the last 5 years
Overall, considering all areas like Water, Power, Health, Anti-Corruption, Ease of Doing Business, Air Quality, Public Transportation, Amenities, etc. 21% rated the 5-year performance of Delhi Government as excellent, 12% as very good, 16% good, 19% average, 18% poor and 12% very poor.
49% citizens give a thumbs up to 5 years performance of Delhi Government; 19% say it was average; 30% rate it poor
When compared with last year, people saying Delhi Government exceeded their expectations saw a meteoric rise from 6% to 49% this year, while people calling performance below expectations reduced from 63% last year to 30% this year. Overall, 68% citizens have rated the preformance of Delhi Government as average or higher.
Significant jump on how citizens rate performance of Delhi Govt over time; 68% rating it meeting or exceeding expectations
The Delhi Government recently released its ‘report card’ and called itself the most honest Government in the country. They kicked off the door to door campaigning for the upcoming elections from the 26th December. The report card also mentioned the government’s achievements in the areas of women security, unauthorized colonies, public transport and areas. Arvind Kejriwal said that their Government had doubled the budget of healthcare, provided free electricity, water, WiFi services and free bus rides for women along with the doorstep delivery of services.
The Aam Aadmi Party swept the 2015 Delhi elections but later did not do well in the MCD polls. However, per citizen feedback, the Delhi Government did seem to take a lesson from the MCD results and started focusing much more on improving governance the results of which started becoming visible in the last 12 months. AAPs popularity with the youth is high but there are others who feel Delhi needs a more ‘experienced’ Government to run the state and one that can perhaps be better coordinated with the Central Government. With the 2020 Delhi election less than a month away, AAP is set to face tough competition from the BJP and in some assembly seats from the Congress party. For whether the AAP can leverage some of the citizen ratings and get elected for another five years, we will have to wait till Feb 11th when the final verdict is out.
Poll Demographics and Participation
Over 110,000 responses were received from 52,000+ unique residents of Delhi located in all 11 districts of Delhi. 33% respondents were women while 67% were men.
Disclaimer
The above survey findings are based on the inputs received from citizens who participated in the 5 years of Delhi Government performance assessment survey on LocalCircles. The findings are indicative of how these citizens perceive work done by Delhi Government in the last 5 years. This survey is a bottoms up governance performance assessment survey only and is not designed to predict any election outcomes.
About LocalCircles
LocalCircles takes Social Media to the next level and makes it about Communities, Governance and Utility. It enables citizens to connect with communities for most aspects of urban daily life like Neighborhood, Constituency, City, Government, Causes, Interests and Needs, seek information/assistance when needed, come together for various initiatives and improve their urban daily life. LocalCircles is free for citizens and always will be!
Akshay Gupta - media@localcircles.com, +91-8585909866
All content in this report is a copyright of LocalCircles. Any reproduction or redistribution of the graphics or the data therein requires the LocalCircles logo to be carried along with it. In case any violation is observed LocalCircles reserves the right to take legal action.
