Swachh Survekshan

Launched in 2016, Swachh Survekshan is a ranking exercise taken up by the Government of India to assess rural and urban areas for their levels of cleanliness and active implementation of Swachh Bharat Mission initiatives in a timely and innovative manner.
It is also aimed at inculcating a spirit of healthy competition among cities towards becoming India’s cleanest cities.

For the fifth year in a row, Indore has been named the cleanest city in the country by the Centre in its annual Swachh Survekshan. Indore bagged the award for the cleanest city among those with a population over 1 lakh.
The Swachh Survekshan Awards, 2021 included the cleanest State honour for Chhattisgarh for the third time, in the category of States with more than 100 urban local bodies. Jharkhand was judged the cleanest State with less than 100 ULBs, followed by Haryana and Goa.
Varanasi has won the award for the cleanest “Ganga city”. Among cities, Surat and Vijayawada secured the second and third place, respectively.
Of cities with population less than 1 lakh, Maharashtra’s Vita was the cleanest, followed by Lonavala and Sasvad.
The New Delhi Municipal Council’s area was ranked the cleanest in the category of cities with 1-3 lakh population. Noida was named the cleanest among medium-sized cities, that is with 3 lakh to 10 lakh population. Among the big cities with a population of 10 lakh to 40 lakh, Navi Mumbai was ranked the cleanest.
The survey was carried out in 4,320 cities over 28 days, where feedback from 4.2 crore persons was recorded.

Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), launched on 2nd October 2014, is a massive mass movement that seeks to create a Clean India by October 2, 2019 (150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi).
It has 2 components – urban and rural.

SBM Urban aims for the elimination of open defecation, conversion of unsanitary toilets to pour flush toilets, eradication of manual scavenging, municipal solid waste management and bringing about a behavioural change in people regarding healthy sanitation practices.
SBM Rural aims to make India an open defecation free country. It seeks to improve the levels of cleanliness in rural areas through Solid and Liquid Waste Management activities and making Gram Panchayats Open Defecation Free (ODF), clean and sanitised.

The urban component of the mission is implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, and the rural component by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti.

In 2020, the Union Cabinet approved the Phase II of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) till 2024-25.
It will focus on Open Defecation Free Plus (ODF Plus), which includes ODF sustainability and Solid and Liquid Waste Management (SLWM). The program will also work towards ensuring that no one is left behind and everyone uses a toilet.

In the latest Union Budget, the government unveiled Urban Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0. It will stress on further strengthening of the ‘swachhata’ (cleanliness) campaign of urban India and the government allocated the budget of Rs. 1.41 lakh crore, which will be implemented over five years from 2021.
The government intends to focus on complete faecal sludge management and wastewater treatment, source segregation of garbage, reduction in single-use plastic, reduction in air pollution, especially waste from construction and demolition, and bio-remediation of dumpsites.

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