The field assessment for the seventh edition of Swachh Survekshan was launched on March 1 by the ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA).

What is Swachh Survekshan?

• Swachh Survekshan 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.

• The ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) first conducted the Swachh Survekshan survey in 2016 for the rating of 73 cities, followed by Swachh Survekshan-2017 conducted in January-February 2017 ranking 434 cities.

• The third round of Swachh Survekshan in 2018 was a quantum leap of scale. It was conducted across 4,203 cities in 66 days, and became the largest ever pan India sanitation survey in the world. 

• Swachh Survekshan has been instrumental in fostering a spirit of healthy competition among towns and cities to improve their service delivery to citizens and towards creating cleaner cities.

Objectives of the survey:

• To encourage large scale citizen participation.

• Ensure sustainability of initiatives taken towards garbage free and open defecation free cities. 

• Provide credible outcomes which would be validated by third party certification.

• Institutionalise existing systems through online processes.

• Create awareness amongst all sections of society about the importance of working together towards making towns and cities more habitable and sustainable. 

• To foster a spirit of healthy competition amongst towns and cities to improve their service delivery to citizens and move towards creating cleaner cities.

Swachh Survekshan 2022

• The ministry formally kicked off the Swachh Survekshan 2022 survey with around 3,000 assessors of the assessment agency — Ipsos Research Pvt. Ltd — ready to go on the field to assess the performance of cities. 

• Designed with “People First” as its driving philosophy, Swachh Survekshan 2022 is curated towards capturing the initiatives of cities for the overall welfare and well-being of frontline sanitation workers. 

• The survey will give priority to the voices of senior citizens and young adults alike, and reinforce their participation towards upholding the cleanliness of urban India.

• This edition will see a greater number of assessors than deployed last year for the on-field assessment.

This year another new indicator ‘Swachh Technology Challenge’, launched by MoHUA on December 6, 2021, has been added. As part of this challenge, individuals/organisations and startups submitted innovative solutions under four thematic categories. They are:

i) Social inclusion

ii) Zero dump (solid waste management)

iii) Plastic waste management

iv) Transparency through digital enablement.

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