On Wednesday, Hardeep Singh Puri, the Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, unveiled the proposed rules for a new ranking system for cities based on their financial health and aesthetic appeal. According to Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister of Housing & Urban Affairs and Petroleum & Natural Gas, City Finance Rankings 2022 aims to evaluate, recognise, and reward urban local bodies on the basis of their strength across financial parameters that include resource mobilisation, expenditure performance, and fiscal governance systems. Transformative efforts The City Beauty Competition programme, according to the Minister, has been started to stimulate and recognise transformational efforts made by the cities and wards in the nation toward developing lovely, avant-garde, and inclusive public areas. The goal of the City Finance Rankings, 2022 is to rank, recognise, and reward India's cities based on the strength of their long-term financial success and current financial health. Urban local bodies Based on their scores under any one of the four population categories—above 4 million, between 1 and 4 million, from 100,000 to 10,00,000, and less than 100,000—the participating urban local authorities will be ranked at the national level. At the national level and within each State/State cluster, the top 3 cities in each population category will be honoured. City Finance Rankings, according to a government statement, are an endeavour to analyse and assist urban local governments in identifying areas in their financial performance where they can make additional improvements and provide high-quality infrastructure and services to their inhabitants. The rankings will highlight the accomplishments achieved by municipalities at a State- and national- level and provide crucial insights to key policy makers into the State of finances of urban local bodies, according to the statement. Inclusive public spaces The City Beauty Competition, meanwhile, aspires to support and honour the transformative efforts made by cities and wards around the nation to create stunning, avant-garde, and inclusive public places. The five broad pillars of accessibility, amenities, activities, aesthetics, and environment will be used to evaluate wards and public spaces in cities. The statement added that at the city level, beautification of locations like waterfronts, green spaces, tourist/heritage spaces, and market/commercial places would be first awarded at the State level and then shortlisted for award at the National level. Selected wards would be felicitated at the city and State levels, it said. On the city beauty portal, which will be created by Administrative Staff College of India, one of the Ministry's knowledge partners, competing wards and cities will submit their entries.