When one tier plays supervisor

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs recently released the Ease of Living Index across 111 cities in India. While Bengaluru topped the nation on this index, it ranked 31 out of 51 for its Municipal Performance amongst large cities.

The cross-city index was hailed by the government and its NGO partners while citizens were utterly surprised. Bengaluru residents view the city through its affordability, housing, transport, traffic, pollution, water and infrastructure challenges, whereas the emphasis on economy, safety, security and a relatively attenuated pandemic relative to some other cities, dominated its ranking.

On-ground citizen reaction is validated via the underperforming municipal index score, which is closer to the bottom than the top.

Beyond numbers, such an index is unreal for two key reasons.

First is that a city is only as good as its folk experience it to be. City rankings must therefore be with respect to itself, year over year, rather than across cities. The fact that Bengaluru is easier to live in, than say, Mumbai, is meaningless to anyone in Bengaluru except the handful that are wondering about relocation.

It is especially irrelevant when Namma Bengaluru jumps 50 places ahead in a year when residents have not seen progress on liveability issues. Roads, when functional, have been rampantly slaughtered and left wide open. Issues of water, solid waste management, flooding, lack of public transport, electricity continue to plague the city as before. Ward Committee meetings raise numerous persistent, unsolved issues. This is the ground reality.

Second, when a Union Government measures municipal performance, it is conveniently placing itself as an overseer. This bestows GoI a connection to cities that violates Constitutional decentralization and subsidiarity.

The three tiers of government are parallel and even as municipal functions reel from state over-reach, the Centre now, intercedes or interferes in everything from housing (JNNURM onwards) and toilets (Swachh Bharat) to municipal water (Jal Jeevan) and roads (Smart City.)

By placing itself as both provider and evaluator, via this index, of municipal functions, the Centre forces citizens of far flung Bengaluru to look all the way to Delhi for services and outcomes that their ward office should rightfully provide, thus diminishing citizen rights.

In the spirit of federalism, Bengaluru should be examining its own liveability and city governance annually, driven by citizens and ombudsmen.

(The author is co-founder, Citizens for Bengaluru)