India's capital, Delhi, is the most liveable city in the country. So says a recent survey conducted by consulting firm Ernst & Young. The study compared 48 cities on 57 parameters including infrastructure, business environment, standard of living and urban governance. Better infrastructure, higher per capita income and the metro have helped Delhi top the financial capital, Mumbai, as the place to be in India. Predictably, the capital's citizens are gung-ho about being on top of the heap. But hang on. It is important to place the rankings in perspective.

Indian cities, be they Mumbai or Delhi, rank very low in livability when compared to other world cities. A survey conducted by Mercer Human Resource Consulting — which included 215 cities — ranked Delhi a lowly 148, Mumbai 151 and the IT hub, Bangalore, at 153. It is not surprising that Indian cities are closer to the bottom of the list rather than the top, or even in the average range. Global surveys consider specific services such as health care, schooling, transport, recreation and housing while grading cities. And Indian cities are a holy mess in most of these aspects.

None of our metros, or other A-list cities such as Bangalore, can claim to offer a minimum, decent standard of living for all its citizens. Delhi might have great infrastructure, but remains an unsafe place, especially for women. Mumbai has a superior business environment but its infrastructure is in a shambles, making the business of life there an ordeal. Bangalore, once considered eminently liveable, is today fast turning into an urban nightmare. The problems that plague India's urban centres can be placed at the door of inept planning. None of the big cities anticipated or put in place a long-term strategy to accommodate the strain that a surge in migrant influx would necessarily place on a city's infrastructure and resources. The approach of our planners and government authorities has been haphazard and myopic, and that's putting it mildly.

Urban migration is bound to increase as India's economy expands. One way of easing the pressure on the metros is to focus on developing infrastructure and public services in tier-II cities, making them an attractive destination. But while developing other cities, our planners would do well not to use Delhi or Mumbai as a model to be emulated. It's time they learnt, and borrowed the best practices of urban planning, from those who have been successful globally. No point in reinventing the wheel when it comes to city planning and management. But radical changes must be wheeled in faster to avoid a series of impending urban disasters.