Not Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru or Hyderabad; Best cities to live in India may surprise you: Full list here

Ease of living Index 2018: None of India's big metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad or Bengaluru feature in the top 10 of Ease of Living Index 2018, which has been launched by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). Among the states, Andhra Pradesh has topped the charts. Andhra is followed by Odisha and Madhya Pradesh in the top three. 

Awarding the three states on Monday, Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri said, "Ease of Living Index is a transformative initiative of the Ministry to help the cities assess their liveability vis-à-vis national and global benchmarks." Puri exuded confidence that the Ease of Living Index will encourage all cities to move towards an ‘outcome-based’ approach to urban planning and management and promote healthy competition among cities. 

The index ranks cities (all smart cities and million plus cities) based on the liveability parameters, namely Institutional, Social, Economic and Physical. These were further broken down into 78 indicators across 15 categories (governance, identity and culture, education, health, safety and security, economy, affordable housing, land use planning, public open spaces, transportation and mobility, assured water supply, waste-water management, solid waste management, power, and quality of environment).  

Ease of living Index 2018: Top 10 cities
1. Pune
2. Navi Mumbai
3. Greater Mumbai
4. Tirupati
5. Chandigarh
6. Thane
7. Raipur
8. Indore
9. Vijaywada
10. Bhopal

“Another highlight of the Ease of Living assessment standards is its close linkage with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Of the 17 SDG goals, 8 goals are directly linked to India’s ease of living assessment framework with SDG 11” said Puri.

Over 1500 officials participated across all workshops. The exercise spread over four months also collected feedback from over 60,000 citizens to measure satisfaction on urban services. 

The first round of Ease of Living survey covered 111 cities. Gurugram was added subsequently in the assessment.  

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Four cities of West Bengal – Howrah, New Town Kolkata, Kolkata and Durgapur did not participate and Naya Raipur of Chhattisgarh and Amravati of Andhra Pradesh did not fulfil the parameters as they are green-field cities.