Trivandrum named best city in terms of urban governance

Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, emerged the best city in the country in terms of urban governance. The survey, conducted by a Bengaluru-based advocacy group, assumes significance as the national capital and financial hub fared below, Thiruvananthapuram, Pune and Kolkata. 
 

Pune was ranked second, up two positions over 2015, while Kolkata emerged third. The biggest gainer was Bhubaneswar which jumped eight levels to reach the tenth spot. The survey aims to push for better city governance based on data and insights. 
 

"Annual Survey of India's City-Systems (ASICS) plans to serve as an annual health check-up of various factors of urban governance. These factors include quality of policies, laws, institutional processes and institutions underlying the quality of life in Indian cities," chief executive officer Srikanth Viswanathan of Janaagraha, the advocacy group that conducted the survey, said. 
 

The survey covered 21 cities in 18 states and was carried out on the basis of 11 key questions and 83 government parameters including financial capacity of cities, local governance models, taxation, administration and political participation of citizens. Questions are based on capacities and resources of cities, urban design and planning, political representation, accountability, transparency and political participation. 
 

Bengaluru dropped four points to reach rank 16 as some other cities performed better. Jaipur ranked 20 and Chandigarh came 21 on the list, but these three cities are considered better to live than other cities like Ranchi, ranked 13, and Patna, which ranked 11 on the list. 
 

On a scale of 10, Indian cities score between 2.1 and 4.4 against global cities like New York and London which score 9.8 and 9.3 respectively. 

• Trivandrum
• best city in India
• Urban governance
• ASICS
• Janaagraha
• Annual Survey of India's City-Systems