Want Ease of Living? Move To Pune

Life is full of complications and we would certainly not want our city to make it any more difficult than it already is. Bumpy rides are a key feature of our relationships; we do not want our city roads to remind us that physically. We feel quite ignorant dealing with our day-to-day issues despite having the best academic credentials; we do not want our city lacking in institutions of enlightenment. We are mortals, doomed to die; we do not want to reside in a city that does not have enough healthcare specialist to take care of our ailing bodies while we live through. That everything goes bad with time and reeks we all know; we could be spared the sight of garbage lying all over when we go out. If such is your intent Pune is the place for you. The cultural capital of India, says a government survey, is the best place to settle in case enjoying ease of living is your primarily concern.

In a survey that included 111 cities measured on four key parameters –governance and social-physical-economic infrastructure—Pune stands on top, with Navi Mumbai and Greater Mumbai following it one after another. In the government’s maiden attempt to rank the ease of livability in its cities through a combination of city-specific data, citizen feedback and a third-party survey, Tirupati and Chandigarh were awarded fourth and fifth positions, respectively. A city’s ease of living was determined on 15 key parameters.

India’s financial capital Mumbai and its close buddies are doing well over all. Greater Mumbai is rated the best on mixed land use/compactness while Thane has been ranked the best in transportation as well as power supply. Greater Mumbai has also received the second and third ranking, respectively, on identity & culture and public space parameters. Navi Mumbai on the other hand has the top ranking in terms of governance. The satellite city has also performed impressively in terms of education (ranked second) and health (ranked third).

Cities that have emerged as key places for the new India to settle have performed fairly well on the index, some of them at least. IT hub of Chennai and Bengaluru have secured 14^th and 58^th spots in the list while Ahmedabad at positioned at the 23rd spot. Cyber hub Hyderabad has secured the 27^th position on the index. Kolkata on the other hand did not participate in the survey.  

Those planning to settle in the national capital region, however, have little reason to be pleased. While the national capital itself was awarded the 65^th position in the survey, Faridabad (72) and Ghaziabad (46) were also positioned quite below in the list. Interestingly, Ghaziabad has been given the top ranking on housing inclusiveness.

Millennium City Gurgaon, however, emerged the worst performer in the region with its 88^th ranking. Noida, the poster boy of affordable housing in the region, on the other hand was not part of the survey since the area is not municipality led.   

Lying at the bottom of the livability index are Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur Nagaland’s Kohima and Bihar’s Patna. Other cities that have been listed at the bottom include Bihar Sharif, Bhagalpur, Itanagar, Pasighat, Kavaratti, Saharanpur and Silvassa. While Srinagar is ranked 100^th in the index, Jammu is placed 95^th.

Seeking ease of living? Move to these top 10 cities

*Pune

*Navi Mumbai

*Greater Mumbai

*Tirupati

*Chandigarh

*Thane

*Raipur

*Indore

*Vijayawada

*Bhopal