Syllabus:

GS2: Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures. 

Context: Recently, the ninth edition of the Swachh Survekshan 2024-25 awards were conferred by the President.  

More on the News

• The awards, instituted under the Swachh Bharat Mission under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, were started in 2016 with 73 cities. 
• This year, 4,589 cities were covered in the survey that was held from April 2024 to March 2025.
• The President highlighted that cleanliness is one of the most important aspects of the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision and urged countrymen to move forward in making the country clean, healthy, and developed.
• This year, the awards were presented in revamped format:
  Union Housing and Urban Affairs said last year stated that the next round of the Swachhata rankings will have a separate category for cities that have been ranked number one in the past, leaving the general competition open for new winners. 
  To address it, in this 9th edition of SS, a special category Super Swachh League has been introduced, creating a separate league of cities excelling in cleanliness. This category recognises the cities that had been in the top three of their categories in the previous three years.
  This new category, Super Swachh League Cities, included the previous winners Indore, Surat, and Navi Mumbai.
  Last year, Indore and Surat were jointly recognised as the cleanest cities, with Indore maintaining its top position for the seventh consecutive time.
• With the theme ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (3R),’ the focus is on cutting waste by using fewer resources and reusing them, in line with the Jaipur Declaration adopted at the 12th Regional 3R Forum and Circular Economy Forum in Asia and the Pacific in March this year.
• Also, the Indicators have been simplified and structured into ten comprehensive sections, which cover the entire spectrum of urban sanitation and cleanliness. 
• To maintain sanitation standards in key public spaces, a special emphasis has been placed on tourist destinations and high-footfall areas.
• It also said that for the first time ever, cities were classified into five population-based categories:
  Very Small Cities (< 20,000 population)
  Small Cities (20,000 – 50,000 population)
  Medium Cities (50,000 – 3 Lakh population)
  Big Cities (3 – 10 Lakh population)
  Million Plus Cities (Greater than 10 Lakh population)

Key Findings

• The awards were presented across four categories: Super Swachh League Cities, the top three clean cities in five population categories, Special category, and State-level awards – Promising clean city of the state/UT.
• Ahmedabad is the top city among those with a population of 10 lakh or above during the awards ceremony, followed by Bhopal and Lucknow. 
• In the category of cities with a population between 3 and 10 lakh, Noida emerged as the cleanest city, followed by Chandigarh and Mysore. 
• In the special category:
  The Cleanest Ganga Town Award was given to Prayagraj.
  The Cleanest Cantonment Board Award was given to Secunderabad Cantt.
  The Safaimitra Surakshit Shehar Awards were given to GVMC Visakhapatnam, Jabalpur, And Gorakhpur.
  A special mention was given in recognition of the special initiative of Swachh Mahakumbh 2025.

Swachh Survekshan Awards 

• The awards, instituted under the Swachh Bharat Mission under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, were started in 2016 with 73 cities. This year, 4,589 cities were covered in the survey that was held from April 2024 to March 2025.
• The goal of this survey is to encourage citizen participation and create awareness among all sections of society about the importance of working together in creating clean cities and towns to reside in. It is conducted under the ambit of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban).
• The indicators have been simplified and structured into ten comprehensive sections, which cover the entire spectrum of urban sanitation and cleanliness. 

Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) 

• Last year, Swachh Bharat Mission completed its 10 years on 2nd October. 
• The mission was divided into SBM-Gramin for villages and SBM-Urban for cities, executed by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, respectively. 
• Along with this, Swachh Bharat Kosh (fund) was also launched “to facilitate channelisation of philanthropic contributions and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds” towards this cause.
• SBM’s focus areas were building individual toilets, community toilets, solid waste management, and leading awareness campaigns aimed at behavioural changes.
• In 2021, after the mission completed five years, the government launched SBM- Urban 2.0, with a focus on garbage-free cities, faecal sludge, plastic waste, capacity building, and greywater management.
• Having achieved the ODF status, the government launched the phase II of the Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen, a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, w.e.f. 2020-21.
  According to the Ministry of Jal Shakti, the objective of SBM-G phase II is “to achieve Sampoorn Swachhata, i.e., sustaining the ODF status and managing solid and liquid waste by 2024-25 and transforming all the villages from ODF to ODF Plus Mode.”

Source: Indian Express

https://indianexpress.com/article/upsc-current-affairs/upsc-essentials/knowledge-nugget-swachh-survekshan-2024-25-awards-sbm-upsc-10132950/