Mumbai offers highest quality of life, Chennai treats its women best: Study

NEW DELHI: There’s a reason cities are spoken of in organic terms. They come up, grow and thrive, or shrivel and die. But for decades, how a city treats its people has been judged by an idea of urban experience that is far removed from the lives we lead. Now, IIT-Bombay researchers have come up with an urban quality of life index tailored to the reality of life in India. And, for the first time, they have factored in gender parity. Chennai, it turns out, is the most women-friendly and Patna the least.

Overall, Mumbai tops the list of 14, followed closely by Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai. But so important is the gender role index that quality of life rankings of six cities would have changed had it not been considered — Delhi, Jaipur and Indore would have been ranked higher, and Mumbai, Bhopal and Lucknow would have ceded their spots. Only Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai surpass the average score for gender index, while Indore, Jaipur and Patna are way below average.
“Women experience cities differently; meeting women’s needs becomes essential in promoting sustainable urban development,” the paper, in press to be published in Elsevier journal ‘Transport Policy’, said. The study found that Jaipur has the highest crime rate against women, Chennai has the lowest . The gap in literacy rate between men and women is the widest in Jaipur (13.2%) and lowest in Kolkata (5.4%). The unemployment rate for women is the highest in Patna — at 346, it is more than four times the urban average of 73.

Another often overlooked factor are the basics — power, water, education. Only 36% urban households in Patna have access to treated tap water. Literacy was the highest in Pune (91%) and, surprisingly, the lowest in Hyderabad (83%).