Centre’s report ranks Maximum City at 10
MUMBAI: One way to read the Ease of Living Index 2020 (EOLI) in a way that makes the glass seem half full is this: three cities of Maharashtra — Greater Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Pune form part of the top 10 ranked cities among 111 cities, including Smart Cities and those with a population of more than a million. If you stretch it to the top 20, another four cities from this state enter the list, including Thane and Solapur.
Launched by Union ministry for housing and urban affairs, the EOLI 2020 and the accompanying Municipal Performance Index (MPI) examine the quality of citizens’ lives in 111 cities across four main pillars: economic ability, sustainability, citizens’ perceptions and quality of life. Expanded, these pillars cover 14 categories such as housing, economic opportunities, green spaces, and even city resilience. Pune emerges as a top performer on sustainability; Navi Mumbai scores fairly high on recreation and quality of life; and Thane on mobility.
Now for the glass half-empty reading.
The pillars that Greater Mumbai fares worse in than it should are also what makes the city one of the most sought-after metropolises: mobility and economic ability. In fact, economic ability is the worst performing pillar across all 111 cities, with a wide score range of 0.55 to 78.82 (Bengaluru). Greater Mumbai scores 32.12. Delhi, Pune and Ahmedabad score higher than Greater Mumbai.
To be sure, the indicators measuring the level of economic development are based on factories per lakh of population, and per capita wages, which would thus favour industrial hubs focused on manufacturing rather than cities where economic activity is driven by trade and services. That would explain why a majority of the cities attained a low score on this pillar. Besides Bengaluru, Pune, Thane and Navi Mumbai were positive outliers in this category. As far as economic opportunities are concerned, the indicators focused on credit accessibility and skill development. Greater Mumbai is one of the positive outliers in this category.
Aaditya Thackeray, environment minister said, “Let me go through the report and its basis. We are working on upgrading ease of living. But it’s not a hidden fact that the ease and joy of living in Mumbai is actually the highest, irrespective of this ranking, (else) so many people wouldn’t call it the City of Dreams.”
Experts said Mumbai’s ease of living cannot improve unless infrastructural issues are addressed. Madhav Pai, executive director at WRI Ross Center (India) for Sustainable Cities, said, “While we have to look at the indicators, it is very clear that Mumbai is not able to attract talent because housing and commute are major issues. The Metro network will solve at least one of these issues.”
Greater Mumbai scores little above 60 -- the national average is 79 out 100 -- in the category of housing and shelter. Satellite cities like Thane, Vasai-virar, Kalyan, Navi Mumbai score better.
Pankaj Joshi, principal director, Urban Center, pointed that the report needed to be clearer in terms of the methodology and parameters employed. “Even in 2019, we had stated that the ministry needs to be clear on the parameters on the basis of which cities are being ranked and what are the indicators based on which cities can do better.”