Livable India?

For now, when we struggle to make two ends meet, get stuck in bad traffic, travel on pathetic roads, face constant power and water cuts, see poverty writ large all over, the introduction of the Livabilty Index seems a bit too early.

Yes, the Govt wants to do everything which is an international norm and will be soon introducing its own Indian version of Livability Index.

It will begin with 100 smart cities and some 77 parameters have been listed down. Cities would be listed on various standards under four categories – institutional, social, economic and physical. The indices would include rankings of grievance redressal of citizens, pollution, availability of water and power, online citizen services, upkeep of historical buildings, increase in tourist footfalls, crime rate, extent of crimes recorded against women, children and elderly, availability of traffic surveillance system and education.

These would in turn be divided into 15 sub-categories of standards and take the form of 15 category indexes, which will together contribute to a common City Livability Index.

How will this be measured? A scientific formula has been developed and percentage weightage in given to the four categories of reforms. 40% weightage is given to physical infrastructure – which will include water, energy, waste water, solid waste, housing, open space, mobility and pollution indices. 30% is given Governance Index, 20% to Social to include health index, education, identity and culture index and security index. Economic index will have 10% weightage and will include unemployment rate, annual increase in number of registered offices and commercial establishments and other indices reflecting the health of city economy.