Source: PIB & Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs
In order to help to assess the progress made in cities through various initiatives and empower them to use evidence to plan, implement & monitor their performance, two Assessment Frameworks, viz. Ease of Living Index (EoLI) and Municipal Performance Index (MPI) 2019 have been launched by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs. Both these indices are designed to assess the quality of life of citizens in 100 Smart Cities and 14 other Million Plus Cities.
Municipal Performance Index 2019
- With the Municipal Performance Index 2019, the Ministry has sought to assess the performance of municipalities based on five enablers namely Service, Finance, Planning, Technology and Governance which have been further divided into 20 sectors which will be evaluated across 100 indicators.
- This will help Municipalities in better planning and management, filling the gaps in city administration, and improving the liveability of cities for its citizens.
The verticals that are covered by the Index
The Municipal Performance Index examines the sectoral performance of municipalities across a set of five verticals, which encompass its mandated functionalities. The five verticals inculcate a total of 20 sectors and 100 indicators within its fold. The framework has been developed after a rigorous process of discussions and consultations with various experts in the field of local governance. They include:
Ease of Living Index
- Ease of Living Index is aimed at providing a holistic view of Indian cities – beginning from the services provided by local bodies, the effectiveness of the administration, the outcomes generated through these services in terms of the liveability within cities and, finally, the citizen perception of these outcomes.
- The key objectives of the Ease of Living Index are four-folds, viz.
- Generate information to guide evidence-based policy-making
- Catalyse action to achieve broader developmental outcomes including the SDG
- Assess and compare the outcomes achieved from various urban policies and schemes
- Obtain the perception of citizens about their view of the services provided by the city administration.
- EoLI 2019 will facilitate the assessment of ease of living of citizens across three pillars:
Quality of Life, Economic Ability and Sustainability which are further divided into 14 categories across 50 indicators.
- All participating cities have appointed nodal officers whose responsibility is to collect and collate the relevant data points from various departments both within and outside of the ULB and upload the same along with supporting documents in the exclusive web portal designed for this purpose.
- This portal was formally launched by the Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, on the 19thof December 2019.
- The Ministry has made several provisions for providing assistance to cities in this process of collection, collation and uploading of data.
- There is a central helpdesk which is used by nodal officers to seek process-specific and indicator specific clarifications and assistance as and when required.
- There are also 50 + assessors who have been posted on the ground to work with the nodal officers to collect and collate information from various departments, as well as to assist in uploading data and documents to the specifications of the assessment protocol.
Citizen Perception Survey & its importance
- For the first time, as part of the Ease of Living Index Assessment, a Citizen Perception Survey is being conducted on behalf of the Ministry (which carries 30% of the marks of the Ease of Living Index).
- This is a very important component of the assessment exercise as it will help in directly capturing the perception of citizens with respect to the quality of life in their cities.
- This survey, which is being administered both online and offline, has commenced from 1st February 2020 and will continue till 29th February 2020.
- The offline version involving face-to-face interviews will commence on the 1st of February and will run parallel to the on-line versions. The same is being promoted through bulk SMS push as well as extensive coverage in social media.
Urbanization in India
- India is urbanizing at a rapid pace and it urgently needs to address the challenges that come with it to stay committed to the SDG goals.
- The country’s urban population was 37.7 crore (31%) in the 2011 census. This is projected to increase to 60 crores (40%) by 2030 and over 80 crores (50%) by 2050.
- As per the 2011 census, urban India contributed 63% to the country’s GDP.
- This is projected to grow to over 75 percent by 2030 and more than 80 percent by 2050. Such rapid urbanization offers India an incredible window for further transforming the economy and fueling growth.
- But the growing urban population also creates a huge challenge to civic infrastructure and services like sanitation, water, sewage, housing, electricity, public transport etc.
