How easy is your daily commute in your city? Does the air refresh you, or does it make you wheeze? Do you have to pass by mounds of garbage as you walk to the neighbourhood grocery? How difficult is it to avail basic municipal services in your city? 

In order to assess the quality of life in Indian cities and help Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) plan and execute projects better, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has launched a two-pronged approach. The Ease of Living Index and the Municipal Performance Index will help evaluate the 100 smart cities and 14 other cities with a population of one million and above. 

The Municipal Performance Index will assess cities based on five components, namely Service, Finance, Planning, Technology and Governance and aid the ULBs in efficient planning for various projects.

The Ease of Living Index has been designed to provide a bird’s eye view of the progress made by various cities in terms of services provided by local bodies, the effectiveness of various projects and schemes and the resultant improvement in livability of cities. Cities will be assessed through three lenses: quality of life, economic ability and sustainability. 

While the Ease of Living Index has been compiled since 2018, this year will see greater emphasis on citizen participation. Through a Citizen Perception Survey, the Ministry seeks to provide weight to the views of the common citizens on how their city fares in terms of commute, employment generation, cleanliness and access to services among other components. The survey will carry 30% weight during the compilation of the Ease of Living Index.

Your verdict on the quality of life in your city can be registered online by filling up this survey form – https://eol2019.org/Citizenfeedback

Citizens have until February 29, 2020 to take the survey and express their views on the liveability of their cities.