The 6th Edition of the Swachh Survekshan (SS) 2021 saw cities being acknowledged for their efforts in maintaining cleanliness, hygiene, and sanitation. The President of India hosted the award ceremony at the ‘Swachh Amrit Mahotsav’. This was a way to honour the commendable work done by cities under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban over the past seven years and to encourage further commitment under the subsequent phase, Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0.
Understanding the Swachh Survekshan
The Swachh Survekshan is an annual survey that evaluates cleanliness, hygiene, and sanitation across Indian cities and towns. Launched as a part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan with the aim of making India clean and open defecation-free, the first survey in 2016 covered 73 cities. By 2020, the survey had grown to cover 4242 cities, thus becoming the largest cleanliness survey globally. For the 2021 edition, 4,320 cities took part with citizens’ feedback significantly increasing to over 5 crores as compared to 1.87 crores in the previous year.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) takes responsibility for this initiative.
Highlights of SS 2021
Cities were awarded under different categories based on their population and cleanliness performance. Among cities with less than 1 lakh population, Vita, Lonavala, and Saswad from Maharashtra bagged the top three spots for cleanliness. For cities with more than 1 lakh population, Indore (Madhya Pradesh) was recognized as India’s Cleanest City for the 5th consecutive year, while Surat and Vijayawada occupied the second and third spots. Hoshangabad, also from Madhya Pradesh, earned the title of ‘Fastest Mover City’.
State-wise Achievements
In terms of states, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand were awarded as the ‘Cleanest State’ for more than 100 Urban Local Bodies and less than 100 Urban Local Bodies respectively. Karnataka and Mizoram were recognized as the ‘Fastest Mover States’.
Other SS 2021 Recognitions
‘Prerak Daaur Samman’ was a new performance category under SS 2021. Five cities – Indore, Surat, Navi Mumbai, New Delhi Municipal Council, and Tirupati were categorized as ‘Divya’ (Platinum). Under the Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge, among 246 participating cities across different population categories, Indore, Navi Mumbai, Nellore, and Dewas emerged as top performers while Chhattisgarh and Chandigarh were the top-performing states.
Garbage-Free Cities
Under the Star Rating Protocol of Garbage Free Cities, nine cities were certified as 5-star cities with 143 cities being recognized as 3-star cities. This protocol was launched by MoHUA in 2018 to institutionalize a way for cities to attain garbage-free status. The nine 5-star cities include Indore, Surat, New Delhi Municipal Council, Navi Mumbai, Ambikapur, Mysuru, Noida, Vijayawada, and Patan.
Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0
Announced in Budget 2021-22, Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 is a continuation of its first phase. Primarily focusing on source segregation of garbage, the mission aims at reducing single-use plastic and air pollution. It also attempts to manage waste from construction and demolition activities and perform bioremediation of all legacy dump sites. A five-year mission from 2021 to 2026, it has been allocated an outlay of Rs. 1.41 lakh crore to ensure safe containment, transportation, and disposal of faecal sludge and septage from toilets. One of the major objectives under this mission is to treat all wastewater before discharging it into water bodies.
