Swachh Survekshan (Cleanliness survey) is an annual survey of cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation in cities and towns across India. It was launched as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, which aimed to make India clean and free of open defecation by 2 October 2019. The first survey was undertaken in 2016 and covered 73 cities (53 cities with a population of over a million, and all state capitals); by 2019 the survey had grown to cover 4237 cities and was said to be the largest cleanliness survey in the world. The surveys are carried out by Quality Council of India.

The criteria and weightages for different components of sanitation related aspects used for the survey were:

    1. Municipal documentation (solid waste management including door-to-door collection, processing, and disposal, and open defecation free status. These carried 45 per cent of the total 2,000 marks.

    2. Citizen feedback – 30 per cent (450 + 150 marks)

    3. Independent observation – 25 per cent (500 marks)

The fifth edition of Swachh Survekshan results were announced on August 20 in which Chhattisgarh has gained the title of India's cleanest state, followed by Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, which are ranked second and third respectively.

What Swachh Chhattisgarh did different from others?

Today, Chhattisgarh is known for being India’s first Open Defecation Free ++ state, which means total sanitation in terms of solid waste management, improved sewerage lines, storm water drains and pucca cement roads, in addition, to open defecation free tag. Apart from this, the state does the following, which sets it apart from the rest of the states:

    • 100% door to door garbage collection: Everyday garbage collection is done in all the 166 ULBs of Chhattisgarh

    • Waste segregation at household level: All households in the 166 urban local bodies successfully segregate their waste at home itself, which is then taken by sanitation workers to the processing plant, where the waste gets treated effectively. Wet waste is used for composting, whereas, dry waste is recycled. Chhattisgarh is known for treating 1650 metric tons of waste per day on an average

    • Integration of technology: Monitoring of all urban local bodies, from door to door garbage collection to ensuring all safai mitra or workers do their job effectively, an online monitoring methodology has been adopted by Chhattisgarh

    • Waste pickers have been involved in Swachh chain: Waste pickers in Chhattisgarh have been involved in the Swachh Bharat Mission and given employment. Moreover, all the waste pickers have been given ration card, aadhaar card and life insurance and other government benefits

    • Brooming twice a day: In all 166 urban local bodies, morning and night sweeping is done twice daily

    • Plastic waste management: In all the 166 urban local bodies of the state, plastic is strictly banned

    • Small sewage treatment plants: Instead of one big sewage treatment plant, Chhattisgarh has small sewage treatment plants that cost Rs. 2 lakhs each and help treat sewage water of that whole area effectively and that is the reason why no sewage water in the state goes straight into any drains or rivers. It is reutilized within the area for gardening purposes

    • Public toilets: All public toilets for women are equipped in the state with amenities like sanitary napkin vending machine, an incinerator facility for effective management of menstrual waste and a feeding area for breastfeeding mothers

    • Godhan Nyay Yojana: Out of 166 ULBs, in 164 bodies, the state has brought the model of reutilizing cow dung by transforming it into vermicompost

Here is the list of some of the winners across several categories 

Cleanest city awards for cities with population above 1 lakh -

• Indore (Madhya Pradesh)

• Surat (Gujarat)

• Navi Mumbai (Maharashtra)

Cleanest city awards for cities with population below 1 lakh -

• Karad (Maharashtra)

• Saswad (Maharashtra)

• Lonavla (Maharashtra)

Cleanest state with more than 100 cities - Chhattisgarh

Cleanest state with less than 100 cities - Jharkhand

Cleanest Ganga town - Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh)

Maximum citizen participation in keeping city areas clean - Shahjahanpur

Cleanest megacity with more than 40 lac population - Ahmedabad (Gujarat)

Best self-sustainable cities with population above 40 lakh-

• Bengaluru (Karnataka)

• Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh)

“Swachh Survekshan 2020 had an overwhelming scale with the survey team visiting over 58,000 residential and over 20,000 commercial areas covering over 64,000 wards in a mere 28 days”. Some of the key highlights of Swachh Survekshan 2020 are as follows:

    • 1.87 crore citizen feedback received

    • 1.7 crore citizens registered on Swachhata App

    • Over 11 crore impressions on social media

    • Over 5.5 lakh sanitary workers linked to social welfare schemes and over 84,000 informal waste pickers integrated into the mainstream

    • Over 4 lakh contractual employees employed by Urban Local Bodies

    • Over 21,000 Garbage Vulnerable Points identified and transformed

Since its launch in 2014, Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U) has made significant progress in the area of both sanitation and solid waste management. 

Some key highlights are

    • 4,324 Urban ULBs have been declared ODF

    • 1,319 cities certified ODF+ and 489 cities certified ODF++ as per MoHUA’s sanitation protocols

    • Construction of more than 66 lakhs individual household toilets and over 6 lakhs community/ public toilets

    • Over 59,900 toilets across 2900+ cities have been made live on Google Maps

    • 96% of wards have complete door-to door collection while 66% of the total waste generated is being processed – a jump of nearly 4 times over 2014 levels of 18% processing

    • A total of 6 cities (Indore, Ambikapur, Navi Mumbai, Surat, Rajkot and Mysuru) have been rated as 5-star cities, 86 cities as 3-Star and 64 cities as 1-Star, as per MoHUA’s Star Rating Protocol for Garbage Free Cities.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants)