Ease of living index

O Delhie Mahra Pahda ra dil Shimla, mahra desha ra dil, o delhie, mahre desha ra dil Shimla----A pahari dialect song sung across the Himachal, meaning: “hey Delhi, the heart of the mountains is Shimla, hey Delhi, our Nations heart is also Shimla”. The first reaction was one of joy and pride. For one who has lived there and served for five years as its deputy mayor, Shimla’s number one all-India ranking in the Ease of Living (EOL) index recently released by the union government in the less than one million population category, sounded stupendous. But it was not long…

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…

Like most other cities in India, Bhubaneswar has two faces. One is as tinselly and bright as you would expect a fast-growing city to be. The other frowns with the strain and concentration of having to look good. Bhubaneswar was the first choice of the Ministry of Urban Development's (MoUD) flagship Smart City project. A year later, it featured in the top 20 global cities of the world in the Global Smart City Performance Index 2017,  according to a survey by UK-based Juniper Research. The city was a member of a list that included Singapore (that topped the list), San Francisco, London, New…