The Minister of State for Housing & Urban Affairs recently unveiled the Swachh Survekshan 2020 (SS 2020) league, which represents a significant step forward in assessing the cleanliness level across Indian cities and towns on a quarterly basis. This league will work in conjunction with Swachh Survekshan 2020, the fifth version of the annual urban cleanliness survey set to take place from January to February 2020, which falls under the purview of the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs as part of the Swachh Bharat Mission- Urban (SBM-U).
Understanding the Swachh Survekshan 2020 League
The SS 2020 League is also referred to as the ‘Continuous Survekshan’, meant to complement and feed into the larger annual survey due in January 2020. Essentially, this league will consist of cleanliness assessments conducted throughout the year. The primary focus will be on parameters related to wastewater treatment & reuse and fecal sludge management.
The Swachh Survekshan 2020: Quarterly Evaluation Mechanism
The SS League 2020 will take place across three quarters, each lasting three months:
1. April – June
2. July – September
3. October – December 2019
Each quarter will carry a weightage of 2000 marks to be evaluated on the following two parameters:
1. Monthly updation of SBM-U online MIS by cities.
2. Citizen’s validation on the 12 service level progress indicators through outbound calls.
The cities will then be ranked in two categories:
1. Cities with a population of one lakh and above.
2. Cities with a population of less than one lakh.
The performance of these cities in the SS League 2020 will play a vital role in determining their ranking in the annual Swachh Survekshan 2020 due to the 25% weightage of the quarterly assessments being factored into the annual survey results.
| Parameters for SS League 2020 Evaluation | Marks |
|---|---|
| Monthly updation of SBM-U Online MIS by Cities | 1000 |
| Citizen’s Validation on Service Level Progress Indicators | 1000 |
Why Implement a Quarterly Evaluation Mechanism?
The decision to conduct a quarterly survey rather than an annual one is based on the observation that an annual survey does not successfully maintain behavioural change. This problem arises as cities tend to clean themselves up shortly before a survey and then fall back into old habits after it ends. This new strategy, involving continuous monitoring throughout the year, fills the void left by the absence of a sustainable monitoring mechanism in the annual surveys.
