LIVEABILITY INDEX OF CITIES TO BE OUT SOON

NEW DELHI: A first-of-its-kind liveability index that rates 113 Indian cities on various social, physical, economic and governance indicators is likely to be released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon, senior government officials familiar with the matter said on Monday.

The government has roped in the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) of the Economist group — that publishes the global liveability rankings of 140 cities every year — to assess the liveability standards in the 113 cities. Besides EIU, two other agencies — IPSOS Research Private Limited and Athena Infonomics — also collaborated with the government in the exercise.

“The exercise is over. The index will be released soon,” said a senior official of the housing and urban affairs ministry.

This is the first time that the government will rank Indian cities this way.

The cities will be assessed on 79 indicators such as availability of physical and social infrastructure, education, employment, health, safety and security. It will also take into account physical infrastructure like housing, open spaces, land use, energy and water availability and pollution.