It is welcome that the micro foundations for competitiveness in urban centres across India and attendant rankings are now a regular feature in policy circles. The Ease of Living Index (EoLI) 2020, which ranks 111 cities on 13 parameters, has placed Bengaluru and Pune as the top performers in the million-plus population category; while Shimla and Bhubaneswar are like-wise in the less-than-a-million list (as per 2011 census).
Our urban areas do provide the bulk of economic growth, by far, and cities matter. The EoLI is an assessment tool to evaluate the quality of living and economic ability of a city, together with its sustainability and resilience.
It has a citizen perception survey component with 30% weightage in the index, with the rest 70% weightage distributed across categories such as education, health, economic opportunity, green spaces and city resilience.
+INFO: Economic Times
