The annual survey of cleanliness covering more than 4,000 cities in India was announced recently by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. Indore was declared the cleanest city in India, the fourth time in a row.
Swachh Survekshan is the annual cleanliness survey to monitor the performance of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, which was launched on October 2, 2014, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. This mission aims to make India open defecation free.
It considers sanitation as an essential aspect to focus on holistic development, which includes waste management, healthy sanitation behaviour and generating awareness amongst masses about sanitation and public health.
This year’s survey was carried out on more than 4,000 cities for over 28 days in a digital and paperless mode.
Here’s all you need to know about Swachh Survekshan 2020.
Swachh Survekshan Survey
The survey was introduced with the objective of generating large-scale participation in the Swachh Bharat Mission. It is based on a citizen-centric approach, to engage more citizens to play an active part in improving the Swachhata rankings of their respective cities.
The first edition of the survey was introduced in January 2016.
A ranking methodology is followed to present ranks and awards to the cities in the following categories-
1) Cleanest city- awarded to a city with a highest overall score in Swachh Survekshan 2020 in population and zonal category
2) Self-sustainable city
3) A city with maximum citizen feedback, based on Census 2011
4) A city with the best citizen feedback
5) Faster mover –city with a maximum jump in rankings
6) Best Innovation award – awarded to a city that employs the best innovation and practices
7) Best citizen led initiative – for citizen’s innovation
Cleanliness Ranking 2020
Swachh Survekshan 2020 covered 4242 cities, 62 cantonment boards and 92 Ganga towns. It is the first digital survey conducted in a completely paperless mode. Many social media campaign were conceptualized to ensure maximum citizen participation on digital platforms.
Social Media campaigns like #HamaraSwag and #CompostingSahiHai aimed to encourage people to be proud of their contribution towards the environment and cleanliness, to reuse the wet waste of their households and to contribute in the Clean India movement. #SwachhataHeroes campaign was a crowd sourcing campaign, intended to recognize the efforts of various individuals and organizations who have been working towards the mission of Swachh Bharat.
Indore secured the first rank in this year’s survey and was awarded the title of the cleanest city in India for the fourth time. Gujarat’s Surat stood on second spot and Maharashtra’s Navi Mumbai on the third.
The fifth edition of cleanliness survey aimed to encourage and improve citizen participation and create awareness amongst people about the importance of working together to make their respective cities cleaner through sustainable practices.
