Swachh Survekshan Awards 2023

13.01.2024

Swachh Survekshan Awards 2023 , Daily Current Affairs , RACE IAS : Best IAS Coaching in Lucknow 

   Why in the news?

Surat in Gujarat and Indore in Madhya Pradesh were jointly declared cleanest cities of the country at the annual clean city awards 2023 of the Union Urban Affairs Ministry.

Swachh Survekshan 2023

• The President Droupadi Murmu conferred Swachh Survekshan awards 2023 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi hosted by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).
• The theme for the year 2023 was -“Waste to Wealth”.
• For 2024, the theme is “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle”.

Performance of cities in Swachh Survekshan 2023

Cleanest Cities

• Surat (Gujarat) and Indore (Madhya Pradesh) jointly bagged the top spot as the cleanest cities in India.
• This is the seventh consecutive time that Indore has won this award, while Surat has improved its rank from second to first this year.
• Both cities have shown exemplary performance in waste management, sanitation, and citizen engagement.

Cleanest City (population less than 1 lakh)

• Saswad (Maharashtra) won the award for the cleanest city among urban centres with a population of less than 1 lakh.
• Patan (Chhattisgarh) and Lonavala (Maharashtra) were the second and third runners-up, respectively.

Ganga Towns

• Varanasi and Prayagraj won the top two awards among the Cleanest Ganga Towns, emphasizing the importance of maintaining cleanliness in areas surrounding the Ganga River.

Best Performing State

Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh won the top three awards for Best Performing State, recognizing their comprehensive efforts in promoting cleanliness.

SafaiMitra Suraksha

Chandigarh walked away with the award for the Best Safaimitra Surakshit Sheher, acknowledging initiatives that prioritize the safety, dignity, and well-being of sanitation workers.

About Swachh Survekshan:

• It is an annual survey of cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation in cities and towns across India, launched as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (specifically under SBA-Urban).
• It was launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) with Quality Council of India (QCI) as its implementation partner.

○The SBA was launched (on 2nd October 2014) to make India clean and free of open defecation by 2nd October 2019.

○The SBA was split into two - rural (SBA-Gramin, monitored by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation under the Ministry of Jal Shakti) and urban (SBA-Urban, overseen by the MoHUA).

○SBM-U 2.0 was recently launched on 1st October, 2021, focused on ensuring complete access to sanitation facilities for all.

●The vision of a Garbage Free India is an initiative under SBM-U 2.0.

• The first survey was undertaken in 2016 (covering 73 cities), which had grown to cover 4242 (by the 2020 survey).

○The methodology for measuring cleanliness rests on two main criteria – citizen feedback and field assessment.                                                             

                                                                        Source: PIB