Are you happy with your city? The International Finance and Trade Centre, Ahmedabad, tried to find an answer to this question from after surveying 100 upper-income households in 12 Indian cities to determine Ahmedabad's relative position with regard to quality of life and potential to attract business. The cities were shortlisted on the basis of their population, size and spatial coverage. Thirty-five variables, ranked on a scale of 0 to 9, were grouped to get seven parameters, like perception and social facilities. Bangalore, followed by Pune, emerged as the best perceived city and Visakhapatnam and Kanpur were rated as the worst.

The survey reflected the mindset of the upper class, for whom convenience is more important than concern. For example, people in Bangalore and Pune were unconcerned about pollution and were happy with the condition of the roads in the city; but not with traffic control. This validates the fact that people just want their cars to run smoothly and are not bothered about the problems around them. The Kanpur elite were unhappy on almost all the counts. Solid waste disposal was a problem in most of the cities, whereas water supply, water quality and electricity was reasonably satisfactory.