In November 2021, the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, felicitated the awardees of the cleanest cities of India at the ‘Swachh Amrit Mahotsav’ hosted as part of Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 (SBM-U 2.0) by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi.
- Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) is now in the process of conducting the sixth edition of the survey to rank all cities under Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U) with Quality Council of India (QCI) as its implementation partner.
- The award ceremony was organized to recognize the work done for Swachhata by towns/ cities, States and Union Territories (UTs) under various initiatives of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), such as Swachh Survekshan 2021 (SS 2021)-6th Edition SS2021, Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge, and certifications for Garbage Free Star rating for cities.
- Â More than 300 awards were given under various categories.
Key Points:
i.For the 5th consecutive year, Indore, Madhya Pradesh (MP), was awarded the title of India’s Cleanest City under SS 2021, while Surat, Gujarat and Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, bagged the 2nd and 3rd spots respectively in the ‘more than 1 lakh population’ category .
ii.Vita, Lonavala, and Sasvad, cities from Maharashtra, bagged the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd positions respectively in India’s cleanest cities under the ‘less than 1 lakh population’ category.
iii.In SS 2021, Maharashtra bagged the highest number of awards i.e. a total of 92 awards, followed by Chhattisgarh with 67 awards.
SS2021 Awards:
a.More than 1 Lakh Population:
| Rank/Category | City | State/UT | |
|---|---|---|---|
| India’s Cleanest Cities | 1 | Indore | MP |
| 2 | Surat | Gujarat | |
| 3 | Vijayawada | Â Andhra Pradesh | |
| Best City in Maximum citizens participation | Hapur | Uttar Pradesh (UP) | |
| Best Citizen-led initiative | Rajkot | Gujarat | |
b.Less than 1 Lakh Population:
| Rank/Category | City | State/UT | |
|---|---|---|---|
| India’s Cleanest Cities | 1 | Vita | Maharashtra |
| 2 | Lonavala | Maharashtra | |
| 3 | Sasvad | Maharashtra | |
| Best City in Maximum citizens participation | Patiyali | UP | |
| Best Citizen-led initiative | Khanapur | Telangana | |
c.1Lakh-3Lakh Population:
| Category | City | State |
|---|---|---|
| India’s ‘Cleanest Small City’ | New Delhi | Delhi |
| Fastest Mover’ Small City | Hoshangabad (Ranked 87th, increase from 361st in the SS 2020) | Madhya Pradesh (MP) |
| Best Small City in ‘Citizens Feedback’ | Tirupati | Andhra Pradesh |
| Best Small City in ‘Innovation & Best Practices’ | Dewas | Â MP |
| Best ‘Self-Sustainable Small City’ | Ambikapur | Chhattisgarh |
d.3 Lakh-10 Lakh Population:
| Category | City | State |
|---|---|---|
| Â India’s ‘Cleanest Medium City’ | Noida | UP |
| Fastest Mover’ Medium City | Hubli-Dharwad | Karnataka |
| Â Best Medium City in ‘Citizens Feedback’ | Ujjain | MP |
|  Best Medium City in ‘Innovation & Best Practices’ | Brahmapur | Odisha |
| Best ‘Self-Sustainable Medium City’ | Mysore | Karnataka |
e.10 Lakh -40 Lakh Population:
| Category | City | State |
|---|---|---|
| Â India’s ‘Cleanest Big City’ | Navi Mumbai | Maharashtra |
| Fastest Mover’ Big City | Meerut | Uttar Pradesh |
| Best Big City in ‘Citizens Feedback | Visakhapatnam | Andhra Pradesh |
| Â Best Big City in ‘Innovation & Best Practices’ | Ghaziabad | Uttar Pradesh |
| Best ‘Self-Sustainable Big City’ | Pune | Maharashtra |
f.>40 Lakh Population:
| Category | City | State |
|---|---|---|
| India’s ‘Cleanest City’ | Ahmedabad | Gujarat |
| Fastest Mover’ Mega City | Bruhat Bengaluru  | Karnataka |
| Best Mega City in ‘Citizens Feedback | North Delhi | Delhi |
| Best Mega City in ‘Innovation & Best Practices’ | Greater Mumbai | Maharashtra |
| Best ‘Self-Sustainable Mega City’ | Greater Hyderabad | Telangana |
g.Cantonment:
| Rank/Category | Cantonment | State | |
|---|---|---|---|
| India’s Cleanest Cantonment (Cantt) | 1 | Ahmedabad Cantt | Gujarat |
| 2 | Meerut Cantt | Uttar Pradesh | |
| 3 | Delhi Cantt | Â Delhi | |
| Best Cantt in ‘Maximum Citizens Participation’ | Lansdowne Cantt | Uttarakhand | |
| Â Best Cantonment in Citizens Feedback | Varanasi Cantt | UP | |
| Best Cantonment in ‘Innovation & Best Practices’ | Dehradun Cantt | Uttarakhand | |
| Best ‘Self Sustainable’ Cantonment | Secunderabad Cantt | Telangana | |
| Fastest Mover’ Cantonment | Pachmarhi Cantt | Madhya Pradesh | |
h.State/UT
| Category | Capital | State |
|---|---|---|
| India’s Cleanest State Capital/UT | Gandhinagar | Gujarat |
| Fastest Mover State Capital/UT | Raipur | Chhattisgarh |
| Best State Capital in Citizens Feedback | Lucknow | UP |
| Best State Capital in Innovation & Best Practices | Chennai | Tamil Nadu |
| Best Self-Sustainable State Capital/UT | Bhopal | Madhya Pradesh |
i.Ganga Town:
| Category | Ganga Town | State |
|---|---|---|
| Best Ganga Town (>1 Lakh population) | Varanasi | Uttar Pradesh |
| Â Best Ganga Town (<1 Lakh population) | Kannauj | Uttar Pradesh |
j.State Ranking:
| Rank | State | |
|---|---|---|
| States with less than 100 ULBs (Urban Local Bodies) | ||
| Best Performing State | 1 | Jharkhand |
| 2 | Haryana | |
| 3 | Goa | |
| Fastest Mover State | Mizoram | |
| States with more than 100 ULBs | ||
| Best Performing State | 1 | Chhattisgarh (3rd consecutive year) |
| 2 | Maharashtra | |
| 3 | Madhya Pradesh | |
| Fastest Mover State | Karnataka | |
Overall – Best Citizen led Initiatives (All ULBs) – Panvel, Maharashtra
Note – One city has been given only one Award. The city’s population is as per the 2011 Census.
About SS 2021 Awards in brief:
i.A total of 4,320 cities participated in the 2021 edition of the Swachh Survekshan with over 5 crores of citizens’ feedback, compared to 1.87 cores in 2020.
ii.SS 2021 has also helped identify over 6,000 innovations and best practices in sanitation and waste management from across urban India.
iii.Star rating system:
- The Star Rating Protocol of Garbage Free Cities was introduced as a SMART framework by MoHUA in 2018, to evaluate cities across solid waste management parameters. In 2018, only 56 cities were awarded certification on the star rating. In 2021 around 2,238 cities applied for the star rating assessment.
- A 3-star and 5-star rated cities were announced under the Star Rating Protocol of Garbage Free Cities in which, a total of 9 cities – Indore, Surat, New Delhi Municipal Council, Navi Mumbai, Ambikapur, Mysuru, Noida, Vijayawada and Patan- have been certified as 5 star cities while 143 cities have been certified as 3 star.
iv.A song titled ‘Har Dhadkan Swachh Bharat Ki – Reaffirming a Nation’s Commitment to Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0’ was released by the President, to represent the commitment of all citizens, especially the children, youth and senior citizens, in the Swachhata journey.
v.A futuristic and state-of-the-art spatial GIS platform was launched to further propel the SBM-U 2.0 towards smart, data-driven decision making.
vi.Prerak DAUUR Samman:
- A new category of awards is titled Prerak DAUUR Samman as part of Swachh Survekshan 2021. The Prerak DAUUR Samman has a total of five additional sub-categories such as Divya (Platinum), Anupam(Gold), Ujjwal(Silver), Udit(Bronze), aaRohi(Aspiring)
- Indore (MP), Surat (Gujarat), Navi Mumbai (Maharashtra), New Delhi Municipal Council(Delhi) and Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh) were categorized as ‘Divya’ (Platinum). Click here to know more
vii.Indore, Navi Mumbai, Nellore and Dewas emerged as the top performers, across different population categories among 246 participating cities in the Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge, launched in 2020 by MoHUA.
viii.The revamped SBM -U 2.0 website and the integrated Management Information System portal ‘Swachhatam’ was launched.
Recent Related News:
Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State(MoS), Ministry of Jal Shakti presided over the virtual launch of Swachh Survekshan Grameen(SSG) 2021 under Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) (SBM(G)) Phase- II during the event organised by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS).
About Swachh Survekshan:
i.Swachh Survekshan is an annual survey of cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation in cities and towns across India.
ii.It was launched as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, which aimed to make India clean and free of open defecation by 2nd October 2019.
iii.The 1st survey was undertaken in 2016 and covered 73 cities, by 2020 the survey had grown to cover 4242 cities and was said to be the largest cleanliness survey in the world.
