New Delhi: On Friday, January 4, the Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri kick-started the fourth edition of what the government claims to be the world’s largest cleanliness survey – Swachh Survekshan, to assess cities of India on their swachh quotient. Starting from today, Swachh Survekshan 2019 will continue till January 31, the results of which will be collated and announced in March 2019. In its fourth year, the survey will be conducted across 4,237 towns and cities and 62 Cantonment Boards, impacting around 40 crore people. For the same, 2,500 assessors and 200 officials have been trained.
MoS H&UA @HardeepSPuri launches Swachh Survekshan 2019, the largest cleanliness survey in the world, at an event in Delhi.
Sh. D. S. Mishra, @Secretary_MoHUA
is also present on the occasion. #MyCleanIndia #SwachhBharat #SwachhSurvekshan2019 pic.twitter.com/0Wjtf2OWPg— Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (@MoHUA_India) January 4, 2019
“I am sure the cities, the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and citizens who have wholeheartedly adopted Swachh Bharat Mission and transformed it into a Jan Andolan must be all excited and geared up for this survey. I wish them all the luck and hope their efforts pay off”, said Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri, after the launch of the survey.
I am sure the cities, the ULBs & citizens who have wholeheartedly adopted Swachh Bharat Mission & transformed it into a Jan Andolan must be all excited & geared up for this survey. I wish them all the luck & hope their efforts pay off. 5/5 pic.twitter.com/rtATMR80Eg
— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) January 4, 2019
This year, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has widened its scope, and as compared to previous years, it is supposed to be bigger and better. For the same, one of the major decisions the ministry has taken is to go paperless and conduct the survey digitally via online management information system (MIS). Swachh Surekshan 2019 has many differences from the previous versions.
Also Read: Here’s How India Is Gearing Up For Swachh Survekshan 2019
5 things to know about Swachh Survekshan 2019:
1. Marksheet Of Cities
This year, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has revised the weightage for overall assessment. Under Swachh Survekshan 2019, cities will be ranked out of the total of 5,000 marks as opposed to 4,000 marks in Swachh Survekshan 2018.
2. Survey Methodology
The data will be equally collected from four different sources – citizen feedback, direct observation, service level progress and certification for garbage and open defecation free cities. The new entrant in the marksheet is ‘certification’ which is broadly divided into two categories – garbage free cities and open defecation free (ODF) cities.
3. Citizen Feedback
Independent agency carrying out the survey will collect feedback from citizens directly, through outbound calls, swachhta helpline number 1969, swachhta app and Swachh Survekshan 2019 portal. Apart from all this, citizens’ feedback on civic issues posted on Swachhata-MoHUA, a mobile application will also be evaluated.
4. Service Level Progress:
Under service level progress, all the cities will be evaluated on following seven parameters:
– Collection and transportation of municipal solid waste (27 per cent)
– Processing and disposal of municipal solid waste (30 per cent)
– Sustainable sanitation (25 per cent)
– IEC (Information, Education and Communication) (5 per cent)
– Capacity building (3 per cent)
– Innovation and best practices (5 per cent)
– Bye-laws (5 per cent)
5. Certification
Under certification introduced by the MoHUA, while 5 per cent weightage (250 marks) has been allotted to the cities that have successfully achieved ODF, ODF plus, and ODF plus plus status which refers to sustaining ODF tag by ensuring toilet functionality, cleanliness and maintenance and fecal sludge management, 20 per cent weightage (1,000 marks) have been allotted to ‘star rating’ achieved by cities as per the protocol released by MoHUA. The star rating protocol is based on 12 parameters and follows a SMART framework – Single metric, Measurable, Achievable, Rigorous verification mechanism and Targeted towards outcomes. SMART includes components like cleanliness of drains and water bodies, plastic waste management, managing construction and demolition waste, and other things.
Swachh Survekshan 2019 Toolkit And Swachh Manch
To help citizens be part of the survey, in August 2018 the MoHUA launched Swachh Survekshan 2019 survey toolkit, ODF plus and ODF plus plus protocol and ‘swachh manch’. While the Swachh Survekshan 2019 survey toolkit contains the detailed survey methodology, ranking criteria, change in assessment weightage, and component indicators with scores, ODF plus and ODF plus plus protocol focusses on sustaining ODF tag and fecal sludge management.
Sharing the details of both toolkit and protocol, Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, said, “The purpose of this toolkit is to provide guidelines for cities and towns that have already achieved ODF status and are working towards ensuring sustainability of the ODF status.”
MoS H&UA @HardeepSPuri launches the ODF+ and ODF++ protocol toolkit.
The purpose of this toolkit is to provide guidelines for cities and towns that have
already achieved ODF status and are working towards ensuring sustainability of
the ODF status. pic.twitter.com/zAe4ZAsrwu— Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (@MoHUA_India) August 13, 2018
‘Swachh Manch’, a web portal was launched with a motive to bring together different stakeholders under one roof and encourage large scale citizen participation. It is for the citizens to connect and contribute in achieving the dream of Swachh Bharat.
MoS H&UA @HardeepSPuri launches 'Swachh Manch', a platform for citizens to
connect and contribute to the overall cleanliness of their respective cities. pic.twitter.com/HQgkOZZQkv— Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (@MoHUA_India) August 13, 2018
All About Swachh Survekshan
The first ever Swachh Survekshan was conducted in the year 2016 and covered 73 cities. In 2017, Swachh Survekshan widened the coverage of the survey to 434 cities, with a population of one lakh and above. In the year 2018, the Swachh Survekshan got bigger and better and surveyed 4,203 cities, which is almost 10 fold increase from previous year’s survey.
While in 2016, Mysuru, the third most populous city in Karnataka was crowned ‘India’s Cleanest City’, in 2017 and 2018, Indore grabbed the title of India’s Cleanest City.
Also Read: Swachh Survekshan 2018: Here Are India’s Top 3 Cleanest Cities
NDTV – Dettol Banega Swachh India campaign lends support to the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). Helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, the campaign aims to replica watches spread awareness about hygiene and sanitation, the importance of building toilets and making India open defecation free (ODF) by October 2019, a target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014. Over the years, the campaign has widened its scope to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and menstrual hygiene. The campaign has also focused extensively on marine pollution, clean Ganga Project and rejuvenation of Yamuna, two of India’s major river bodies.
