New Delhi: Odisha was awarded Monday as one of the three best performing States in the country in terms of Ease of Living Index rankings launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).
Andhra Pradesh topped the charts while Madhya Pradesh followed Odisha .
Ease of Living Index
is a transformative
initiative of the
Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
to help the cities
assess their liveability
vis-a-vis national
and global benchmarks
The three states were awarded under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) at the National Dissemination Workshop on Ease of Living Index, 2018, here.
While presenting the awards to the states, Union Minister of State (I/C) for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri said the Ease of Living Index is a transformative initiative of the Ministry to help the cities assess their liveability vis-a-vis national and global benchmarks.
He exuded confidence that the Ease of Living Index will encourage all cities to move towards an ‘outcome-based’ approach to urban planning and management and promote healthy competition among cities.
Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary MoHUA, Shiv Das Meena, Additional Secretary and Mission heads under Urban Affairs, urban planners from States and Union Territories attended the workshop.
Addressing the participants, Puri said this exercise marked a major milestone in India’s goal to promote evidence-based planning and action towards sustainable urbanisation.
”The Ease of Living Index seeks to assist cities in undertaking a 360-degree assessment of their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats,” he added.
It was decided in June 2017 to rank 116 cities (all smart cities and million plus cities) based on the liveability parameters. The implementation of the assessment commenced formally January 19, 2018.
The MoHUA released the first ever Ease of Living Index covering 111 Indian cities August 13, 2018, which serves as a litmus test to help assess the progress made in cities through various initiatives.
All cities were evaluated out of 100. The ‘physical’ pillar (infrastructure) was given the highest weightage of 45, while institutional (governance) and social were weighted 25 each. Economy was weighted 5.
Puri pointed out that Ease of Living framework comprised four pillars namely Institutional, Social, Economic and Physical which are further broken down into 78 indicators across 15 categories. ”Another highlight of the Ease of Living assessment standards is its close linkage with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
He said, “the ease of living index provides a strong impetus to India’s effort for systematically tracking the progress of SDGs in the urban areas.”
UNI