Jobs, healthcare top priority for Himachal voters

New Delhi, May 8 (IANS) Better employment opportunities, availability of water for agriculture and better healthcare facilities are the top priorities for Himachal Pradesh voters, as per a report.

The report, published by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), showed that overall 63.6 per cent voters in Himachal Pradesh wanted better employment opportunities while 47.02 per cent wanted availability of water for agriculture and 41.1 per cent were for better primary healthcare facilities.

The survey was conducted between October and December 2018 and its objective was to identify voters' priorities on specific governance issues, ratings of the government's performance on those issues, and factors affecting voting behaviour.

The survey covered approximately 2,000 respondents across all four parliamentary constituencies of Himachal Pradesh.

The rural voters rated the government as "below average". On a scale of five, employment opportunities were rated at 2.65, availability of water for agriculture at 2.6 and primary healthcare facilities at 2.64.

When it came to public transport and the condition of roads, rural voters rated the government's performance as "poor". On a scale of five, public transport was rated at 2.39 and the condition of roads at 2.75, the survey said.

For the urban voters in the state, the top most priorities were better employment opportunities, quality school education and eradication of corruption.

As many as 60 per cent of the voters wanted better employment opportunities, 60 per cent were for quality school education and 44 per cent wanted eradication of corruption. The urban voters rated the performance of the government in these areas as "below average".

On a scale of five, employment opportunities was rated at 2.46, quality school education at 2.48 and eradication of corruption at 2.54.

Moreover, they rated the government's performance as "poor" with regard to the condition of roads and primary healthcare facilities.