‘Bengaluru's real problems different from assessment parameters’

The Global Liveability Index 2022 recently published by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) assessing 173 cities across the world has ranked Bengaluru 146th globally and the ‘least liveable’ city in India. DH spoke to a cross section of Bengalureans to know what they feel about their city and its ranking in the index.

Akhileshwari, a private employee, agrees with factors such as infrastructure and the environment having a major influence on the liveability of the city and making it tough for living. “I feel good education is not that affordable in Bengaluru. I find most of the roads narrow and filled with potholes making commuting a nightmare,” she says.

“Also, with too much population and traffic, it feels like the city is poorly planned in many ways, including the sub-optimum use of public transport and unscientific ways of managing waste etc,” she adds.

Read | Liveability: Bengaluru’s great fall

However, she says, healthcare facilities are not that bad. She only sees them improving over the years.

Vibha Rao, an IT professional, who has lived in the United Kingdom earlier and visited a few other parts of India, does not agree that Bengaluru is the least liveable city in India. “Even though there are a lot of things in Bengaluru which need improvement such as traffic, waste management, pollution and road / metro construction, I believe that’s how any developing country would be. For instance, in the UK, traffic is well managed when roads are being constructed or repaired unlike here in Bengaluru.”

She adds that people in Bengaluru are warm and welcoming which, she stresses, is a major advantage. Priyadarshi K G, a business consultant, agrees with this point. “I don’t understand how they had measured factors like culture and environment for the index. Bengaluru is very cosmopolitan, and people here are very welcoming and embracing of different cultures and nowhere in other Indian cities we find people talking so many languages. Environment pollution is relatively lesser here than other cities,” he notes.

However, he agrees that the infrastructure here is unscientifically planned and built. “As someone who has extensively travelled across India as well as abroad, I would certainly say that Bengaluru’s infrastructure is subpar. There’s no road discipline and no coherent action being taken to solve congestion.”

All the major road entry points are very congested. “Be it Mysuru Road or Ballari Road, the entry poits give an unpleasant first impression. Even with the accessibility of these infrastructure, Bengaluru fares very poorly,” says Priyadarshi.

Anusha Bhat, a researcher, has a different take on the index as well on the city, noting that the real problems with the city are different than what they have assessed in the index. “Indicators like ‘culture’ and ‘infrastructure’ have no unifying meaning and it is unclear how they are being measured. There doesn’t seem to be a validated framework behind the index, making it devoid of any real rigour,” notes Anusha.

“Bengaluru’s problems are far more complex and are influenced by political economy and capitalist processes of accumulation – increasing wealth gap, privatisation, accumulation of land for real estate, and the current housing crisis thanks to skyrocketing rents. Not to forget the ghettoisation of marginalised communities and increasing saffronisation of the city. Bengaluru is certainly a difficult city to live in, more so if you do not enjoy economic and social capital,” points out Anusha.