Indore was declared the cleanest city in India for the fourth consecutive time in the Swachh Survekshan, 2020 — India’s annual survey on cleanliness.

Note the following things about Swachh Survekshan:

1) Nodal Ministry (It is Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs)

2) Authority carrying out the survey

3) Various parameters of the survey

Swachh Survekshan

• It is an annual survey of cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation in cities and towns across India.
• It ranks India’s cities, towns and states based on sanitation, waste management and overall cleanliness.
• It was launched as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, which aimed to make India clean and free of open defecation by 2 October 2019.
• The first survey was undertaken in 2016 and covered 73 cities; by 2019 the survey had grown to cover 4237 cities and was said to be the largest cleanliness survey in the world.

Survey methodology

• The surveys are carried out by the Quality Council of India. The criteria and weightage for different components of sanitation-related aspects used for the survey were:

a) Municipal documentation (solid waste management including door-to-door collection, processing, and disposal, and open defecation free status. These carried 45 per cent of the total 2,000 marks.

b) Citizen feedback – 30 per cent (450 + 150 marks)

c) Independent observation – 25 per cent (500 marks)

Highlights of the 2020 Rankings

• Surat in Gujarat and Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra bagged the second and third spot respectively among the cleanest cities with more than a million populations.
• Maharashtra’s Karad, Saswad and Lonavala bagged the first three positions for cities having a population less than one lakh.
• Among the cities with a population between one and 10 lakh, Chhattisgarh’s Ambikapur was declared the cleanest, followed by Mysore in Karnataka.
• In fact, Chhattisgarh has ranked the cleanest state in the category of states having more than 100 Urban Local Bodies (ULB). It was followed by Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
• In 2019, Chhattisgarh was in the third position in the category. The survey found that Chhattisgarh is the first and only state where every city achieved Open Defecation Free (ODF)++ status.

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