This urban podium is Shimla’s. Another ranking’s famous winner can miss it entirely.
Starting point
States are not the only geography. In November 2021 NITI Aayog released the SDG Urban Index and Dashboard for a set of cities. The notes put Shimla first, with a score of 75.50, Coimbatore second, and Chandigarh and Thiruvananthapuram jointly third. Indore, which leads other urban rankings in the public mind, was not in the top three and not in the top ten of this particular index. The question is written as a negative: which city was not among the top three, and the key is Indore.
A city index can diverge from a cleanliness ranking or a ease-of-living ranking because the SDG set includes poverty, health, water, jobs and institutions, not one visible service. Remember the index’s name when you remember the winner.
- Date and author: NITI Aayog, November 2021, SDG Urban Index.
- First: Shimla, 75.50.
- Second: Coimbatore. Joint third: Chandigarh and Thiruvananthapuram.
- Not in the top three: Indore, which is the keyed exclusion.
- Do not transfer a Swachh ranking onto this index.
Worked example. If the options are Shimla, Coimbatore, Indore and Thiruvananthapuram, drop Indore. Shimla’s 75.50 is a front-runner-type score on the state bands, but the urban index is a different table. Quoting Kerala’s state rank will not answer a city question. Quoting Indore’s reputation will answer it wrongly.
Memory hook. Shimla, Coimbatore, then Chandigarh with Thiruvananthapuram. Indore is the city the question says was not there.