Bengaluru's traffic is often the source of ridicule. After all, the city's traffic has even averted a terror attack. But despite this, Bengaluru continues to figure among India's most liveable cities. The latest to name Bengaluru as the most liveable city is a report by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) titled State of India’s Environment in Figures 2021, released on June 16.Bengaluru was ranked the best city overall followed by Chennai, Shimla and Bhubaneshwar.
Only three state capitals feature in the top ten most liveable cities, as per the report. It focused on four parameters— quality of life, economic ability, sustainability and citizens’ perceptions— to determine the ease of living index score. Indian cities were rated out of 100 in all parameters and Bengaluru received an ease of living index score of 66.7, followed by Chennai 62.61.
While Bengaluru scored high on the parameter of economic ability (78.82), Chennai scored highest in the parameter quality of life (60.84). Delhi, meanwhile, was ranked the worst capital city as per citizen feedback received, with a score of 69.4; Bengaluru did not fare much better, with a score of 78. The city with the highest citizen perception score was Bhubaneshwar at 94.8.
The report highlights the lack of economic opportunities in India’s state capitals as an immediate concern. It says: “Only one state capital (Bengaluru) demonstrates a decent economic ability, scoring 78.82 out of 100. Four other state capitals (Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad) provide middling economic opportunities. The rest have all scored less than 30 out of 100.”
This is the second edition of the index, published after the first one in 2018. Richard Mahapatra, managing editor of Down To Earth magazine published by the Centre for Science and Environment says, "The Ease of Living Index 2020 included citizen’s feedback for the first time. It is interesting that despite faring poorly on almost all development parameters, the capitals obtained high scores in the citizens’ feedback section. We need to understand why urban citizens think so highly of their clearly poorly performing cities.”
The report also highlighted the abysmal percentage of sewage treatment in Indian cities— a mere 28% of sewage generated is being treated overall, it stated. "The states and Union territories (UTs) of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Lakshadweep, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland do not treat sewage in their cities at all," read the report.