Swachh Survekshan Awards 2025-26

Key Highlights:

• The Swachh Survekshan Awards 2025-26 were presented by President Droupadi Murmu, recognizing India's cleanest cities.
• Organized by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), 60 national awards were announced across five categories.
• New award categories introduced include Swachh Shehar Jodi, Swachh River Front Town, Swachh Coastal Town, and Clean Himalayan City.
• Urban waste processing increased from 16% to 80%, and door-to-door waste collection from 44% to over 96% since 2014.
• The Swachh Survekshan expanded from 73 cities in 2016 to 4,751 cities in 2025-26, incorporating feedback from 2.70 crore citizens.
• Navi Mumbai, Surat, and Vijayawada were recognized as the top 3 Clean Cities of Super Swachh League.
• GVMC Visakhapatnam, Jabalpur, and Lucknow emerged as India’s top Swachh Shehar in the million-plus population category.

Detailed Insights:

• President Murmu emphasized the need for citizen participation, behavioural change, and integrating plastic waste management into school curricula.
• Union Minister Shri Manohar Lal highlighted the transformation of the Swachh Bharat Mission into a nationwide people's movement.
• Remediation of legacy waste dumpsites has freed nearly 11,000 acres of urban land for productive use.
• States were encouraged to conduct their own Swachh Survekshan competitions to foster healthy competition among Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).
• The Swachh Shehar Jodi initiative pairs 70 mentor cities with 191 mentee cities for knowledge-sharing, embodying a 'Guru-Shishya' tradition.
• The PRAGATI-50 initiative aims to develop 50 cities as Model Clean Cities through technology-driven interventions and continuous monitoring.
• Awards were specifically introduced for River Front Towns (Rewa, Bilaspur, Varanasi), Coastal Towns (Puri, Alappuzha, Ratnagiri), and Himalayan Cities (Rudrapur, Jammu, Shopian).
• The assessment involved 43 indicators across 10 critical domains, including waste management, sanitation access, and citizen feedback.
• Over 1,700 smaller ULBs improved their rankings, demonstrating accelerated progress in the Swachhata movement across towns of all sizes.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Swachh Survekshan: An annual survey assessing the cleanliness, hygiene, and sanitation standards of cities and towns across India.
• Swachh Bharat Mission: A nationwide campaign by the Government of India aimed at achieving universal sanitation coverage and improving waste management.
• Swachh Shehar Jodi: An initiative pairing high-performing mentor cities with mentee cities to facilitate knowledge transfer and improve sanitation outcomes.
• SafaiMitras: A term used for sanitation workers, emphasizing their dignity and crucial role in maintaining urban cleanliness and hygiene.