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

BY S VENKAT NARAYAN

Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, December 5:

In India, Mumbai offers the highest quality life, and Chennai treats its women the best, according to a study on urban quality of life index in the country by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Bombay. And Chennai has been ranked as the most women-friendly city, and Patna in Bihar 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 (Rajasthan) and Indore (Madhya Pradesh) 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 the average.

“Women experience cities differently; meeting women’s needs becomes essential in promoting sustainable urban development,” the study, 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%).