Only 12% citizens of Punjab gave a thumbs up to the 4.5 years performance of Punjab Government

Only 22% citizens say Law & Order in Punjab has improved in the last 4.5 years

The Punjab Government has been time and again criticised for blatant violation of rule of law within the state. Recently, arms and explosives in the Amritsar area were reportedly discovered, prompting the opposition to express concern over the deteriorating law and order situation in Punjab. The next question asked Punjab residents to rate the law & order situation in their district in the last 4.5 years. In response, 11% of Punjab residents say there has been a “significant improvement” of law & order in their state in the last 4.5 years, and another 11% say there has been “some improvement”. Breaking down the poll, 22% of residents say there has been “no improvement”, another 44% say it has “gotten worse”, and 12% say it has “gotten significantly worse”. On an aggregate basis, only 22% of Punjab residents say the Law & order in their state has improved in the last 4.5 years. This question in the survey received 1,097 responses.

Only 9% citizens in Punjab believe Doing Business in the state has become easier in the last 4.5 years

Punjab stood at 19th position in the DPIIT’s Business Reform Action Plan 2019 rankings, which represents the performance of states and UTs on Ease of Doing Business. In order to facilitate Ease of Doing Business, the Punjab Government on the occasion of Independence Day announced 1,150 reforms for medium and small enterprises (MSMEs), with its details expected to be shared by the Department of Investment Promotion. The question in the survey asked residents of Punjab to rate the performance of the state in Ease of Doing Business in the last 4.5 years. In response, only 9% of Punjab residents said there has been a “significant improvement” in Ease of Doing Business in the state in the last 4.5 years. 28% of residents said there has been “no improvement”, 27% said it has “gotten worse”, and 36% said it has “gotten significantly worse”. This question in the survey received 1,077 responses.

Only 30% citizens feel healthcare services in their district in Punjab have improved in the last 4.5 years

The 2nd wave of the COVID-19 outbreak tested the pulse of the Punjab Government in their preparedness and effectiveness to handle the outbreak vis-à-vis Governance. The state with its high population and poor health infrastructure got severely impacted by the outbreak as many people, especially in rural areas lost their lives due to the infection. There was utter chaos across the city’s hospitals facing acute shortages of oxygen cylinders & concentrators, ventilator beds, Covid management medicines, COVID test facilities, related supplies and equipment. In many cases, delayed hospitalisation led to many deaths, particularly in co-morbidities cases like obesity, high blood sugar and hypertension, which are relatively higher in Punjab. The State Government also faced difficulties to meet the contract tracing target set by the Union Health Ministry.

The following question in the survey asked residents to rate the overall healthcare situation in their district in the last 4.5 years. In response, only 10% of Punjab residents said there has been a “significant improvement” regarding healthcare services in their district in the last 4.5 years, while 20% said there has been “some improvement”. Breaking down the poll, 50% of Punjab residents said there has been “no improvement”, 10% said it has “gotten worse”, and another 10% said say it has gotten “significantly worse”. On an aggregate basis, only 30% of Punjab residents feel that healthcare services in their district in the last 4.5 years have improved. This question in the survey received 1,090 responses.

Only 34% citizens feel communal harmony in Punjab has improved in the last 4.5 years

The next question in the survey asked residents of Punjab about the improvement in communal harmony in their state in the last 4.5 years. In response, 7% of residents surveyed said the situation regarding communal harmony in the state has “significantly improved”, while 27% said there has been “some improvement”. Breaking down the poll, 32% of residents said there has been “no improvement”, 7% said it has “gotten worse”, and 20% said it has “gotten significantly worse”. 7% did not have an opinion. On an aggregate basis, only 34% of Punjab residents feel that communal harmony in the state has improved in the last 4.5 years. This question in the survey received 1,105 responses.

Only 27% citizens say power supply in their district in Punjab has improved in the last 4.5 years

Power cuts have been a major problem for residents in Punjab. There has been a number of protests, especially from village farmers across the state over long power cuts. The following question asked Punjab’s residents to rate the improvement in power supply in their district in the last 4.5 years. In response, 13% of residents surveyed said the situation regarding power supply in their district has “significantly improved”, while 14% said there has been “some improvement”. Breaking down the poll, 20% of residents said there has been “no improvement”, 33% said it has “gotten worse”, and 20% said it has “gotten significantly worse”. On an aggregate basis, only 27% of Punjab residents say that power supply in their district has improved in the last 4.5 years. This question in the survey received 1,090 responses.

Only 16% citizens say water supply in their district in Punjab has improved in the last 4.5 years

Many regions in Punjab still suffer from the dearth of water supply. Recently the Punjab Cabinet approved a scheme for regularisation of unauthorised connections and recovery of arrears on account of water supply and sewerage charges. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) has also sanctioned INR 445.89 crore for drinking water projects in water-shortage hit districts of Punjab. The following question asked residents of Punjab to rate improvement in water supply in their district in the last 4.5 years. In response, 8% of residents surveyed said there has been “significant improvement” in water supply in their district, and another 8% said there has been “some improvement”. Breaking down the poll, 58% of residents said there has been “no improvement”, 9% said it has “gotten worse”, and another 17% said it has “gotten significantly worse”. On an aggregate basis, only 16% of Punjab residents say that water supply in their district has improved in the last 4.5 years. This question in the survey received 1,064 responses.

Only 27% citizens feel infrastructure in their district in Punjab has improved in the last 4.5 years

The next question in the survey asked Punjab’s residents to rate improvement in overall infrastructure in their district in the last 4.5 years. In response, 7% of residents surveyed said the infrastructure in their district has “significantly improved”, while 20% said there has been “some improvement”. Breaking down the poll, 33% of residents said there has been “no improvement”, 27% said it has “gotten worse”, and another 13% said it has “gotten significantly worse”. On an aggregate basis, only 27% of Punjab residents say that infrastructure in their district has improved in the last 4.5 years. This question in the survey received 1,188 responses.

Only 31% citizens feel school education in Punjab has improved in the last 4.5 years

According to a National Statistical Office (NSO) survey published in September 2020, Punjab’s literacy rate is 83.7%, including males and females in urban and rural areas of the state. In 2019, the Punjab Education Department had set parameters to rate government schools on the basis of annual results, enrolment enhancement, infrastructure, co-curricular activities, board of honors in school and student attendance. Schools were also asked to ensure basic facilities like drinking water, separate washrooms for boys and girls, fans, along with computer lab and library, mid-day meals. The State’s Chief Minister in November 2020 launched the “Mission Shat Pratishat” for academic session 2020-21, aimed at empowering schools to achieve 100% results. He also announced the creation of 8,393 pre-primary school teachers’ posts. There are 19,107 schools in the state, of which 6,832 are smart schools, and plans are on to add more smart schools. The State Government had made a budgetary provision of INR 100 crore in 2021 for the digitisation of schools.

The next question tried to understand from residents if there has been an improvement in the education sector of the state in the last 4.5 years. In response, 8% of Punjab residents surveyed said there has been “significant improvement” in the school education, while 23% said there has been “some improvement”. Breaking down the poll, 31% of residents said there has been “no improvement”, 15% said it has “gotten worse”, and another 15% said it has “gotten significantly worse”. 8% of residents did not have an opinion. On an aggregate basis, only 31% of Punjab residents say that school education in the state has improved in the last 4.5 years. This question in the survey received 1,170 responses.

Only 8% citizens believe that Punjab Government has taken steps in the last 4.5 years to improve air quality

The practice of stubble burning is rampant in Punjab, which has worsened the quality of air in the state. In October 2020, the state recorded as many as 25,976 cases of stubble burning in the state during the paddy growing season. Despite several efforts by the State Government to curb the menace, a general lack of awareness about the implications of poor air quality among the public and policymakers has been often cited as the major factor in the deteriorating air quality condition in the state. The question in the survey asked residents of Punjab to rate the efforts of the State Government to improve air quality in the last 4.5 years. In response, only 8% of Punjab residents said “excellent”. 31%of residents said there has been “efforts but no results”, while 46% said the Government has “not done anything at all”, and 15% said they “have made things even worse”. This question in the survey received 3,540 responses.

Only 12% citizens of Punjab give a thumbs up to the 4.5 years of Punjab Government

The final question asked residents of Punjab to rate the overall performance of the Punjab Government in the last 4.5years. In response, 6% of residents rated 4.5 years of Punjab Government as “exceeded expectations”, and another 6% said it has “met expectations”. The majority of 88% rated Punjab Government’s performance “below expectations”. This question in the survey received 1,319 responses.

In summary, only 12% residents of Punjab gave the Amarinder Singh Government met or exceeded their expectations in the last 4.5 years. 33% said that cleanliness level has improved in the last 4.5 years. Less than 9% feel that Ease of Doing Business, corruption, air quality have improved. Similarly, less than 30% feel that healthcare services, infrastructure, law & order and power supply have improved in the last 4.5 years. Also, less than 34% said that there has been improvement in communal harmony and school education in Punjab.

Survey Demographics

Over 15,000 responses were received from over 4000 unique residents in 18 districts of Punjab. 69% of the participants were men while 31% were women. The survey was conducted via the LocalCircles platform and all participants are validated citizens who had to be registered with LocalCircles to participate in this survey.

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