Bengaluru emerged as the top city on the government’s Ease of Living Index (EoLI) 2020 that was released by Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday. Pune was second and Ahmedabad was ranked third among 111 cities. Mr Puri announced the release of the final rankings of EoLI 2020 and the Municipal Performance Index (MPI) 2020 in an online event. 

The other cities that followed were Chennai, Surat, Navi Mumbai, Coimbatore, Vadodara, Indore and Greater Mumbai among cities with population of over 10 lakh. In the less-than-10-lakh category, Shimla was ranked the highest in ease of living, followed by Bhubaneshwar, Silvassa, Kakinada, Salem, Vellore, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Davangere and Tiruchirappalli.

Some 111 cities participated in the assessment exercise that was conducted in 2020 for the rankings under EoLI 2020. The EoLI is an assessment tool that evaluates the quality of life and the impact of various initiatives for urban development. It provides a comprehensive understanding of participating cities across India based on quality of life, economic ability of a city and its sustainability and resilience. The assessment also incorporates the residents’ view on the services provided by city administration through a Citizen Perception Survey.

Similar to the EoLI, the assessment framework under MPI 2020 has classified municipalities based on their population – municipalities having over a 10-lakh population and those with less than a 10-lakh population. In the 10-lakh-plus category, Indore has emerged as the highest-ranked municipality, followed by Surat and Bhopal. In the less-than-10-lakh category, New Delhi Municipal Council has emerged as the leader, followed by Tirupati and Gandhinagar. 

The MPI examined the sectoral performance of 111 municipalities (with Delhi being assessed separately for NDMC and the three municipal corporations) across five verticals which comprised 20 sectors and 100 indicators in all. The five verticals under MPI were services, finance, policy, technology and governance.