Context: Indore and Surat were named the joint winners of the cleanest city in the Swachh Survekshan Awards 2023.
About Swachh Survekshan Awards (SSAs) : Urban
- Launched in: 2016
- Launched as: Part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, to assess urban areas for their levels of cleanliness and active implementation of Swachhata mission initiatives in a timely and innovative manner.
- Launched by: Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs with Quality Council of India as its implementation partner.
- Methodology for measuring cleanliness: Citizen feedback and field assessment.
- Objective: To encourage large scale citizen participation and create awareness amongst all sections of society about the importance of working together towards making towns and cities a better place to live in.
- Theme of the cleanliness survey 2023: “Waste to Wealth”, while for 2024 it is “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle”.
Key findings of Swachh Survekshan Awards 2023 :
- Cleanest city (over 10 lakh population): Indore has been named the cleanest city in the Swachh Survekshan Awards for the seventh consecutive year.
- Surat, which has been in second place, won the top award for the first time.
- Both cities had 100% door-to-door collection of waste, 98% segregation at source and 100%Navi Mumbai was named the third cleanest city.
- Cleanest state: Maharashtra was awarded the cleanest state, followed by Madhya Pradesh.
- Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Nagaland and Tripura were ranked the bottom five states.
About Swachh Bharat Mission (Clean India Mission):
- Background: It is a restructured version of the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan launched in 2009.
- Launched in: 2nd October 2014
- Type of scheme: Centrally sponsored scheme
- Objective: To eliminate open defecation and improve solid waste management and to create Open Defecation Free (ODF) villages. Also aims to increase awareness of menstrual health management.
- Phases of SBA:
- Phase 1 of SBM: Lasted till 2 October 2019. To eradicate manual scavenging, generating awareness and bringing about a behaviour change regarding sanitation practices, and augmentation of capacity at the local level.
- Phase 2 of SBM: Being implemented between 2020–21 and 2024–25 to help cement the work of Phase 1. Aims to sustain the open defecation free status and improve the management of solid and liquid waste, while also working to improve the lives of sanitation workers.
- The mission was split into two: Rural and Urban.
- SBA - Rural: Financed and monitored through the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (since converted to the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation under the Ministry of Jal Shakti).
- SBA- Urban: Overseen by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
Salient Features of Swachh Bharat Mission - Urban 2.0
- Launched in: 2021
- Tenure: Till 2026.
- Objective: For creating a “Garbage Free” Urban India.
- Focus areas of mission: All households and premises segregate their waste into “wet waste” and “dry waste”.
- 100% door to door collection of segregated waste from each household/ premise;
- 100% scientific management of all fractions of waste, including safe disposal in scientific landfills;
- all legacy dumpsites remediated and converted into green zones;
- all used water including fecal sludge, especially in smaller cities are safely contained, transported, processed and disposed so that no untreated fecal sludge and used water pollutes the ground or water bodies.
- Intervention of the mission:
- Garbage Free Cities: All statutory towns are certified at least 3-star garbage Free, or higher. Follows a SMART framework – Single metric, Measurable, Achievable, Rigorous verification mechanism and Targeted towards outcomes.
- ODF Norms: No faeces should be seen around, and everyone at home and public places should use safe methods to get rid of it.
- ODF+ Norms: Nobody should defecating and/or urinating in open areas. All public and community toilets should be kept clean and well-maintained.
- ODF++ Norms: Emphasis on mechanized cleaning of septic tanks and sewers. Safe collection & treatment of used water as well as safe management of faecal sludge.
- Water+ Norms : The focus is on collection, transportation, treatment, and reuse of both used water and faecal sludge to prevent environmental pollution.
- For towns having population more than 20,000, a minimum of 25% households to be connected to sewerage network.
- Striving to achieve sustainability.
- No untreated used water is let out in the environment.