B’luru, Shimla most liveable cities in India, Srinagar the worst

NEW DELHI: Bengaluru is India’s most liveable major city while Srinagar is the least, according to a central government ranking released on Thursday that also noted cities in western and southern regions outperformed their peers in the east and north.

The Ease of Living Index 2020 evaluated 49 cities with more than one million people and 62 with less than a million people. Bengaluru, Pune and Ahmedabad topped the first category, and Delhi was ranked 13th (16th overall across both categories). Shimla, Bhubaneswar and Silvassa were the best cities in the second category; Muzaffarpur was the worst.

The ranking, prepared by the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs and released by minister Hardeep Puri, scored well-being on quality of life, economic ability, and sustainability, with 49 indicators spread across 14 categories.

“These cities have emerged as models of development who will inspire others to perform better. Further, their peers will also benefit from emulating their best practices,” Puri said.