Key Facts

The 10th edition of the Swachh Survekshan Awards conferred on 11-12 November 2026 highlighted major urban sanitation benchmarks:

• Cleanest Cities: Indore (Madhya Pradesh) and Surat (Gujarat) emerged as the joint top performers among cities with a population above 1 lakh.
• Cleanest States: Maharashtra was declared the cleanest state in India, with Madhya Pradesh in second place and Chhattisgarh ranking third.
• Small City Winner: Saswad in Maharashtra clinched the cleanest city title in the less than 1 lakh population category.
• Ganga Towns: Varanasi and Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh bagged top honors as the cleanest Ganga border towns.
• Safaimitra Suraksha: Chandigarh won the award for the safest city for sanitation workers (Safaimitra Surakshit Shehar), showcasing complete mechanisation of sewer cleaning.

GK Context

• Swachh Survekshan was commissioned in 2016 by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) with an initial baseline assessment of 73 cities.
• Today, it has grown into the world's largest urban sanitation and cleanliness survey covering over 4,500 urban local bodies.
• The initiative evaluates municipal performance across four core parameters: Service Level Progress (waste collection, processing), Certification (ODF+, Water+), Citizen Voice (feedback, grievance resolution), and Field Assessment.

Static GK

• The Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) was launched on 2 October 2014, with the objective of achieving 100% open defecation free (ODF) status and scientific solid waste management.
• SBM-U 2.0 was launched in October 2021 with a vision of creating 'Garbage Free Cities' and ensuring complete greywater and sewage treatment in all urban centres.

UPSC Mains Framework

GS Paper II & III (Urban Governance & Environmental Sanitation): Discuss the role of competitive federalism through citizen-centric metrics like Swachh Survekshan in accelerating municipal governance and circular solid waste management in India.