It turned out to be a not-so-greater Mumbai when respondents to the The Times Of India-IMRB Quality Of Life Survey compared the Social Infrastructure on offer in the financial capital to that available in seven other mega-cities. In fact, Mumbai came a poor 6th, with even Pune ranked a notch ahead. But, for a sprawling metro weighed down by a space crunch and an indifferent government, Mumbai"s Social Infrastructure still got a favourable mark of 3 on a scale of 1 to 5. This category carried the most weightage-23%-when the overall rankings for how urban Indians perceive their mega-cities were decided.
It comes as no surprise that Mumbai is viewed as a metro in which it"s near impossible to get a decent, affordable roof over your head - at least not within city limits. Respondents to The Times Of India-IMRB Quality of Life Survey, which ranked eight Indian mega-cities according to the general public"s and experts" perceptions of them, ranked Mumbai the worst when it comes to housing facilities.
In the six parameters that comprised Social Infrastructure - housing, hospitals, schools, colleges, work culture and job opportunities - housing is the only one in which Mumbai occupied the cellar position.
While overall in the Quality Of Life Survey, Mumbai ranked as the third best city to live in along with Delhi - as detailed in the first report on the survey carried on Sunday - in Social Infrastructure (SI) this city tumbled to a poor 6th, though with a healthy work culture it still managed to post a favourable SI rating of 3 on a scale 1 to 5.
Not surprisingly, dragging the city down was housing, as the affordability of decent accommodation has become the primary grouse of residents of the city. Realty and rental rates have for long hovered at unreal heights.
Meanwhile, the city was perceived fairly positively for its education, with schools given a rating of 3.5 and colleges 3.3. But Delhi and Pune were still viewed as better on both counts, with Chennai and Bangalore also doing better on colleges. The city"s hospitalization facilities did a tad worse, getting an above average rating, though it was only 2.9. Delhi Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Chennai were viewed more favourably here.
However, local experts cautioned online casinos australia that the perception-based survey may not indicate the entire truth, as Mumbaikars are known to be exacting and critical of what their city offers them. Still, if the bureaucracy wasn"t so unwieldy and politicians not so apathetic, the city with the nation"s richest civic body, and which is capital of a state with one of the nation"s biggest economies, would be streets ahead in all the parameters surveyed.
Experts also cited the space crunch Mumbai deals with due to its geographical location. This crunch affects not only housing stock, but also leads to expensive realty, which drives up the cost of education, healthcare etc.
The one factor in which Mumbai continues to be viewed as being tops is work culture. But, while the work ethic of the financial capital was lauded, signs of trouble have risen with Delhi and Bangalore being viewed as having better job opportunities today than the financial capital. Job creation is definitely an issue.
The findings don"t surprise social analysts, who see Mumbai as a city of paradoxes. The metropolis, after all, boasts of corporate hospitals and International Baccalaureate schools that can compete with the best globally, even as public hospitals and civic schools creak under the weight of a severe shortage of resources and infrastructure.
On housing, experts said the paradox is that there are units, but they are unaffordable. "There is plenty of housing, but spiralling real estate prices put it out of reach of the middle class," said R N Sharma of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Pankaj Joshi, of the Urban Design Research Institute UDRI), said, "The accommodation being built is inappropriate and unsustainable. Even working Mumbaikars live in slums today." In a survey done earlier this year by UDRI, around 2,000 Mumbaikars said the lack of affordable housing was their top issue. An increasing dependence on private healthcare was also a concern, with 70% saying they go to private doctors.
Fewer people view this as a destination for jobs. "There is a fantastic work culture here," said sociologist Nandini Sardesai, "but people have no work. It"s a city of gold for a handful but on the decline for many." She said housing, education and healthcare haven"t kept up with population growth. The government must invest in social infrastructure, said R A Potdar, of the Centre for the Study of Social Change, adding that there"s little coordination between government departments.
