Pune, Bhubaneswar 2nd in Ease of Living Index 2020
Bengaluru has been rated the most liveable city in India in the Government’s “Ease of Living Index”. The others, in the order of ranking, are Pune, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Surat, Navi Mumbai, Coimbatore, Vadodra, Indore and Greater Mumbai.
The lowest on the list are: Bareilly, Dhanbad and Srinagar.
Interestingly, in the 2018 “Ease of Living Index”, Pune was ranked the most liveable city in the country. It was followed by Navi Mumbai and Greater Mumbai, which have slipped to the sixth and the 10th rank respectively in the 2020 edition of the East of Living Index.
Besides, Shimla topped the list among 62 cities having less than one million population followed by Bhubaneswar, while Muzaffarpur in Bihar occupies the bottom place in the rankings.
The city ranking based on the Ease of Living Index 2020, was released by Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday. Chennai, Surat, Navi Mumbai, Coimbatore, Vadodara, Indore and Greater Mumbai are the other seven cities that have found place in the top 10 among the million-plus cities.
Of the 49 cities ranked on livability index in the “million-plus population” category, Delhi ranked at the 13th position, Meerut at 36 and Faridabad 40 position and Bareilly, Dhanbad, Srinagar are at the bottom at 47, 48 and 49 position respectively.
Tirupati was at the fourth position and Chandigarh fifth in 2018, but in the 2020 Ease of Living Index, Tirupati and Chandigarh have slipped to the 46th and the 29th position respectively.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency Varanasi was ranked 33 position in 2018 which has been ranked at the 27 position in 2020.
Unlike the first ease of living index (EoLI) report of 2018, the latest ranking of cities in 2020 has put 111 cities in two categories, million-plus and cities having population less than a million. “These cities have emerged as models of development who will inspire others to perform better. Further, their peers will also benefit from emulating their best practices,” Puri said.
Interestingly, no city from West Bengal figures in the ranking list. The assessment exercise was carried out last year just before the lockdown. Performance of the cities have been measured on four broad parameters — governance and social, physical and economic infrastructure. According to officials, the Ease of Living Index is an assessment tool that evaluates the quality of life and the impact of various initiatives for urban development.
In this category, Bhubaneshwar was ranked second, Silvassa came third. They were followed by Kakinada, Salem, Vellore, Gandhinagar, Gurgaon, Davangere and Tiruchirapalli. Muzaffarpur was at the bottom of the list of 62 cities that were ranked on livability index in the “less than million population” category.
The Ministry also drafted a report on the “Municipal Performance Index 2020” in a bid to determine elements that prevent efficient local governance in service delivery mechanisms, planning, financial systems, and governance practice. In the million-plus category, Indore has emerged as the highest ranked municipality, followed by Surat and Bhopal while Guwahati, Kota and Srinagar ranked lowest. Among municipalities catering to a population of a less than a million, New Delhi Municipal Council has emerged as the leader, followed by Tirupati and Gandhinagar while Shillong, Imphal and Kohima municipalities were ranked lowest.
The MPI examined the sectoral performance of 114 municipalities (with Delhi being assessed separately for NDMC, and the three Municipal Corporations) across five verticals which comprise of 20 sectors and 100 indicators in all totality. The five verticals under MPI include services, finance, policy, technology and governance, the report noted. The Citizen Perception Survey (CPS) was undertaken from January 16 to March 20, 2020. A total of 3.22 million citizens from 111 cities participated in the survey.
