India’s ease of Living Index | Latest Burning Issue | Free PDF Download

EASE OF LIVING INDEX

UPSC perspective – Mains Paper 1: Social issues – Urbanization, their problems and remedies

EASE OF LIVING INDEX

• The index conceived in June 2017 aims to help cities assess their liveability vis-a-vis global and national benchmarks and encourage cities to move towards an ‘outcome-based’ approach to urban planning and management.
• It covers 111 cities that are smart city contenders, capital cities and cities with population of 1 million plus.

EASE OF LIVING INDEX

• It captures quality of life based on data collected from urban local bodies on four parameters, which were further broken down into 15 categories.
• The four parameters include institutional (governance), social (identity, education, health, security), economic ( economy, employment) and physical factors (waste water and solid waste management, pollution, housing/ inclusiveness, mixed land use, power and water supply, transport, public open spaces).

SCORE

• Institutional and social parameters carry 25 points each, physical factors have weightage of 45 points and economic factors 5 points totalling to 100 mark scale on which cities were evaluated
• Structurally, urbanisation is advantageous to India on several fronts. Urban areas contribute to approximately 62-63% of India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) , which is estimated to reach 75% by 2030 .
• 6 McKinsey research estimates that cities could generate 70% net of all new jobs by 2030 . It presents an opportunity to reduce social inequities which are much less pronounced in urban agglomerations compared with rural areas, since hierarchies are driven more by economic (rather than social) standing in cities. It also serves as a natural focal point for the adoption of new technologies and innovation enmasse.
• Additionally, it creates large markets with critical mass for a variety of goods and services, catalysing the overall economy.

NOTES

• However, the rapid pace of urbanisation and the increased number of urban dwellers could exacerbate existing challenges like pollution, overcrowding, rising crime levels, poor access to water supply and sanitation facilities, and congestion, among others.
• This warrants a greater focus on improving the governance and the quality of urban infrastructure and service delivery, which have a direct bearing on the quality of life offered by the cities to its citizens. This puts ‘Ease of Living’ at the heart of India’s urban agenda.

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