Swachh Survekshan 2021: A Look At How Cities Will Be Assessed This Year

New Delhi: It’s that time of the year again when cities across India are assessed on the basis of their Swachh quotient. From sanitation to waste management and observe basic cleanliness and hygiene levels in the areas, the municipal corporation of all the cities are doing their best to perform better and attain the title of the ‘Cleanest City’ of India. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has announced the rollout of Swachh Survekshan 2021 across India and the assessment is scheduled from March 1 to March 31.

In a bid to sustain the onground performance and efforts of cities and ensure continuous monitoring of service level progress, last year, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has introduced Swachh Survekhsan (SS) league, as part of the SS league, quarterly cleanliness assessment of cities and towns in India are done. This time also the assessment will be done in three quarters – July to August, September to November and December to February 2022.

Also Read: Swachh Survekshan 2020: Indore Continues Its Winning Streak, Is India’s Cleanest City Again; Here’s The List Of Winners

Here’s a quick lowdown on this year’s Swachh Survekshan will be different:

Swachh Survekshan 2021 Assessment Process

This year, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has not revised the marking scheme for the overall assessment, it remains the same as previous year. Under Swachh Survekshan 2021, cities will be ranked out of the total of 6,000 marks like last time in 2020 and each quarter holds 2,000 marks.

But the ministry has revised the data collection criteria and its weightage this time of the year – citizen voice (30 per cent or 1800 marks), service level progress that includes sustainable sanitation, processing and disposal of waste and segregated waste collection (40 per cent or 2400 marks) and certification (30 per cent or 1800 marks).

What’s New

In Swachh Survekshan 2021, five new performance categories have been introduced to push the competition further – Platinum (Divya), Gold (Anupam), Silver (Ujjwal), Bronze (Udit) and Copper (Aarohi) and these are being called as ‘Prerak DAUUR Sammman’. Under this ranking, cities and ULBs will be assessed on the basis of:

– Segregation of Waste (Wet, Dry & Hazardous)
– Processing Capacity against wet waste generated
– Processing of Wet Waste
– Processing/ Recycling Dry Waste
– Construction & Demolition Waste Processing
– Percentage of waste going to the landfill
– Current Sanitation Status

The History Of Swachh Survekshan

Swachh Survekshan, what the government now claims to be the world’s largest cleanliness survey was initiated back in 2016 wherein only 73 cities were assessed on their swachh quotient. In 2017, in the second edition, Swachh Survekshan widened the coverage of the survey to 434 cities, with a population of one lakh and above. Whereas, in the year 2018, the annual assessment got bigger and better and surveyed 4,203 cities, which is almost 10 fold increase from the previous year’s survey. In 2019, the survey was conducted across 4,237 towns and cities and 62 Cantonment Boards, impacting around 40 crore people. And in 2020, the survey assessed a total of 4,242 cities, 62 Cantonment Boards and 92 Ganga Towns for its cleanliness.

Also Read: Ahead Of Swachh Survekshan 2020 Results, A Lookback At The Five Year Journey Of Swachh Survekshan

In terms of Swachh Survekshan winners, in 2016, Mysuru, the third most populous city in Karnataka was crowned India’s Cleanest City whereas in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 Indore was declared India’s Cleanest City.

A Look At How Some Cities Are Preparing For Swachh Survekshan 2021

Indore: To keep the tradition of winning the title of India’s cleanest city alive, Indore is once again gearing up to put its best foot forward for the 2021 Swachh Survekshan award. The city’s municipal corporation is sprucing up the city by installing colourful lights on the roads, decorating walls with unique paintings, most of them are based on the swachh and swasth messages. Talking about how the city is gearing up for the swachh awards to ANI, Pratibha Pal, Indore Municipal Corporation Commissioner said,

I am sure the citizens of Indore will do their best to preserve the legacy of the previous cleanliness awards. The visual impact of cleanliness comes from maintenance and beautification and these are also the parameters of Swachh Survekshan.

The city has also gone a step ahead and set up stalls at Palasia intersection where car dustbins, eco-friendly straws, cloth bags, containers for making compost are given on rent, to ensure that citizens do not throw trash from moving cars and also learn the importance of managing their own waste. Moreover, the gardens across Indore have been beautified and an ”eco mart” has been built, where recycled plastic items are kept, Ms Pal said, adding that the civic body has “completed preparation on all the parameters for Swachh Survekshan.”

Also Read: Swachh Survekshan 2020: Chhattisgarh Is India’s Cleanest State, Here’s What It Did Right

Madhya Pradesh: Indore gets ready for the 2021 Swachh Survekshan

"I'm sure the aware citizens of Indore will do their best to preserve legacies of previous cleanliness awards," says Indore Municipal Corporation Commissioner

Indore has got cleanest city award four times already pic.twitter.com/wJpVYDwqf3

— ANI (@ANI) February 4, 2021

Navi Mumbai: The municipal corporation of Navi Mumbai has introduced Swachh Survekshan Mascots in commercial and public areas in bid to spread the word among citizens about the survey thereby making sure the city remains clean and adopt swachh habits.

In a bid to create awareness & excitement among citizens about #SwachhSurvekshan2021, Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation, recently introduced the Swachh Survekshan Mascots in Commercial and Public Areas.#MyCleanIndia #SwachhataSuperstars pic.twitter.com/KNw0PyNN3t

— Swachh Bharat Urban (@SwachhBharatGov) February 3, 2021

Vadodara: Adopting the message of recycling, the Vadodara Municipal Corporation has introduced bottle recycling machines wherein one can dispose of bottles and enjoy rewards.

#MyCleanIndia #SwachhSurvekshan2021 https://t.co/2Eix5jvQog

— Swachh Bharat Urban (@SwachhBharatGov) February 3, 2021

Gurgaon (Gurugram) : On the other hand, the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon has taken it upon themselves to educate the house helpers or volunteers on the correct way to segregate and manage household waste.

#MyCleanIndia #SwachhSurvekshan2021 https://t.co/7T2vppsY4s

— Swachh Bharat Urban (@SwachhBharatGov) February 4, 2021

NDTV – Dettol Banega Swasth India campaign is an extension of the five-year-old Banega Swachh India initiative helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. It aims to spread awareness about critical health issues facing the country. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign highlights the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children to prevent maternal and child mortality, fight malnutrition, stunting, wasting, anaemia and disease prevention through vaccines. Importance of programmes like Public Distribution System (PDS), Mid-day Meal Scheme, POSHAN Abhiyan and the role of Aganwadis and ASHA workers are also covered. Only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and become a Swasth or healthy India. The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene.