Published & Updated as on - 2010-03-20
Delhi
is the best Indian city to live in, while steel city Jamshedpur ranks lowest in
the Liveability Index 2010, says a report prepared jointly by CII and Institute
for Competitiveness.
In the overall ranking to gauge the
quality of life across Indian cities, Delhi scores over Mumbai, Chennai,
Bengaluru, Kolkota, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune and Gurgaon that take up
respective ranks from second to ninth. Faridabad, ranked 32, Ludhiana 33,
Lucknow 34, Patna 35, Vishakhapatnam 36 and Jamshedpur 37 make up the last five
when it comes to quality of life.
Chandigarh is a surprising
14th, proving that the city needs much more than apparent beauty to be truly
liveable. The country’s financial capital Mumbai comes second in the list of 37
cities mapped in the list, prepared on parameters like living standard,
socio-cultural environment, education, medical standards and recreational
possibilities, among others.
Delhi comes out tops when it
comes to education, safety and economic environment; second in housing options,
socio-cultural and political environment. Medical standards, however, are not
up to the mark pushing the capital to rank 17. Kozhikode, Trivandrum and Kochi
come out tops.
Mumbai ranks 12. Mumbai aces the demographic
advantage, followed closely by Kolkota, Chennai, Coimbatore, Hyderabad,
Ahmedabad and Delhi, in that order.
With regard to
education, the winners are Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune, Gurgaon, Kolkota,
Hyderabad and Chandigarh. Hyderabad much lauded for its access to
education, ranks eighth.
As far as safety is
concerned, contrary to negative press, Delhi turns out to be the safest city
followed by Bhopal, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune, in that
sequence. Jammu is ranked 33, Srinagar is 34, Dehradun at 35, Gurgaon at 36 and
Noida comes in at 37.
As Gurgaon and Noida have the worst
crime record, the report said, “Delhi could be a simple victim of devils
bearing proximity”.
A liveable city, according to the
report, is not just an urbanised area in an urbanised region defined by the
presence of a municipality. Liveability refers to an urban system that
contributes to the physical, social and mental well-being and personal
developments of all its inhabitants, it said.
“The quality
of life experienced by the citizens living in a city is tied to their ability
to access infrastructure, food, clean air, affordable housing, meaningful
employment and green space and perks,” it said.
Major challenges
With
30 per cent of India already living in towns and cities, it is projected that
in the next two decades nearly half of India would be living in urbanised
areas. A major challenge would be to develop new cities, especially Tier-II and
III, as alternate hubs for commercial activity and migration.
“This
becomes important due to the fact that the present metros are reeling under
severe resource and infrastructure crunch,” says Anshuman Magazine, chairman
and managing director at CB Richard Ellis, a real estate consulting firm.
According
to Tarun Gupta, head, city development, PwC, the main characteristics that
differentiate Tier-II and Tier-III cities from Tier-I cities are access to
better services along with planned environment, facilities for education and
economic opportunities, better connectivity to the rest of the country and
internationally, and better urban transportation systems. Tier-I cities also
have higher potential to grow.
So, how will the Tier-II and
Tier-III cities manage to get a Tier-I ranking? They need to plan their growth
according to their inherent strengths, e.g. trade, heritage, tourism, etc and
have clarity in vision.
They need to focus and improve on
their core functions, e.g. water supply, solid waste management, etc and be
seen delivering on their duties. They need to participate in increasing
economic activities in the area by facilitating licenses, approvals, etc and
undertake capacity-building of their employees and do cross-learnings with
other cities in the country to learn and implement best practices.
Source:
Hindustan Times |