Take a look at the essential concepts, terms, quotes, or phenomena every day and brush up your knowledge. Here’s your knowledge nugget on Swachh Survekshan Awards and Swachh Bharat Mission for Today.

(Release: Since the launch of the swachh bharat mission, the upsc has been written questions on this topic in both the prelims and the mains examinations. In 2016, a main question was asked on ‘How could social influence and personasion contribute to the success of swachh bharat abhiyan?’ In this regard, it is an important topic for your prelims and mains preparance.)

Why in the news?

Ahmedabad was named the clear big city in the country in the swachh Survekshan 2024-25 awards, followed by bhopal and luckow. President Droupadi Murmu Presented the Award to be being the top city

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The awards, instituted under the swachh bharat mission under the ministry of housing and urban affairs, were started in 2016 with 73 cities. This year, 4,589 cities were covered in the survey that was Held from April 2024 to March 2025.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

1. The goal of this survey is to encourage citizen participation and create awareness all sections of society about the import of work together in creating clean and cities to reside in. It is conducted under the ambit of the swachh Bharat Mission (urban).

2. The 9th Edition of Swachh Survekshan (SS) Awards, which was announted by the president, has a revamped format. With indore winning the tag of clear city for seven years in a row, union housing and urban affair minister manohar lastar said last year that Next Round of the swachhata rankings will have a separaate category category category category category category category category category category category category category category category category. That has been ranked number one in the past, leaving the general competition open for new winners.

3. To address it, in this 9th edition of ss, a special category – Super Swachh league Has been Introduced, creating a separate league of cities excelling in cleanliness. This category records the cities that had been in the top three of their categories in the previous three years.

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4. This new category, Super Swachh league cities, included the previous winners indoor, surat, and navi mumbai. Last year, indo and survity were jointly recognized as the clean cities,

5. It also Said that for the first time ever, cities were classified into five five population-based categories:

(i) Very small cities (<20,000 population)

(ii) small cities (20,000 – 50,000 population)

(iii) Medium Cities (50,000 – 3 Lakh Population)

(iv) Big Cities (3 – 10 Lakh Population)

(v) Million Plus Cities (& GT; 10 Lakh Population)

5. Also, the indicators have been simplified and structured into ten comprehensive sections, which cover spectrum of urban sanitation and clearline. To maintain sanitation standards in key public spaces, a special emphasis has been placed on tourist destinations and high-footfall area.

Swachh Survekshan 2024-25 Awards Ahmedabad, Bhopal, and Lucknow Emerge as India’s new clear cities. (Source: x/@mohua_india)

6. With the theme of ‘reduce, reuse and recycle (3R), the focus is on minimizing wasting by using minimum resources and re -using them for the same purpose or other purposes. It also aligns with the jaipur declaration, which was unanimously adopted at the 12th regional 3r and circular economy forum in asia and the pacific in March this year.

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Launched by the United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD) in 2009, The Regional 3R and Circular Economy Forum Aims to Provide Strategic Policy Inputs Authorities in The Ashia-Pacific Fore Mainstre. 3r and circularity and serve as a platform for displaying and sharing best practices in 3r. The 12th forum was organized in jaipur from 3 mar 2025 to 5 Mar 2025.

“As part of the jaipur declaration, a collaborative knowledge platform as a global alliance C-3. Circular Economy Goals for each of them, “According to the website of the swachh Bharat mission.

7. The awards were presented acres four categories: Super Swachh league cities, the top three cities in five population categories, special category, and state-level-rate-Promising clear city of the state/UT/UT.

In the Special category:

↪ the cleanest ganga town award was given to Prayagraj.

↪ the clear cantonment board award was given to Secundarabad Cantt.

↪ The safaimitra surkshit shehar awards was given to gvmc visakhapatnam, jabalpur, and gorakhpur.

↪ a special mention was given in recognition of the special initiative of swachh Mahakumbh 2025.

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Cities in super swachh league
Size of population State/cities
Million Plus Cities (> 10 Lakh Population) Maharastra: navi mumbai

Madhya Pradesh: Indore

Gujarat: SURT

Andhra Predesh: Vijayawada

Big Cities (3 – 10 Lakh Population) Andhra Predesh: Guntur

Karnataka: mysore

Gujarat: Gandhinagar

Madhya Pradesh: ujjain

Uttar Predesh: Noida

Union Territory: Chandigarh

Medium Cities (50,000 – 3 Lakh Population) Andhra Predesh: Tirupati

Chhattisgarh: Ambikapur

Delhi: New Delhi Municipal Council

Maharastra: Lonavala

Small Cities (20,000 – 50,000 Population) Maharastra: Vita, Sasvad, Deolali

Pravara

Rajasthan: Dungarpur

Very small cities (<20,000 population) Chhattisgarh: Patan, Bishrampur

Maharastra: Panchgani, Panhala

Madhya Predesh: bundi

(Source: Swachh Survekshan 2024-25)

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Beyond the nugget: Swachh bharat mission

1. Last year, Swachh Bharat Mission Completed Its 10 years on 2nd October. This was one of the first programs unounced by Prime minister Narendra Modi after he took office in 2014.

2. The mission was divided into sbm-gramin for villages, and sbm-alban for cities, excted by the ministry of drinking water and sanitation, and the ministry of housing and urban affects. Along

3. Sbm’s focus areas Were Building Individual Toilets, Community Toilets, Solid Waste Management, And Leading Awareness Campaigns Aimed At Behavioural Changes.

4. The PM ANNOUNED that the sbm’s main was to make India “Open Defecation-free” (ODF) by October 2, 2019, for which crres of households and community toilets to be constructed. According to the ministry, “A city/ ward can be notified/ declared as an ODF city/ ODF Ward if, at any point of the day, not a single person is found in the app.”

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5. In 2021, after the mission complete five years, the government launched sbm-urban 2.0, with a Focus on Garbage-free crities, Faecal sludge, plastic waste, and capacity Building, and GREYWATER.

6. Have achieved the ODF status, the government launched the phase II of the swachh Bharat mission-Grameen, a centrally sponsored scheme, WeF 2020-21. According to the ministry of jal shakti, the objective of sbm-g phase ii is “to achieve swachhata, IE, sustaining the ODF status and managing solid and liquid waste by 2024-25 and 255. Villages from ODF to ODF plus mode. “

Post Read Question

Consider the Following Statements:

1. For the past 7 years, indore has been ranked first in the super swachh league of cities.

2. The 9th Edition of Swachh Survekshan (SS) Awards Classified Cities Into Five Population-Based Categories.

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3. The Cleanest Cantonment Board Award was given to Secundarabad Cantt.

How many of the above statements are/are correct?

(a) Only one

(b) Only two

(c) all three

(d) none

(Source: Ahmedabad Declared Cleanest City in India in Swachh Survekshan 2024-25 As Indore Moves to ‘Super League’, Top Cleanest Cits in India: Indo Featured for the 7th Time-Sees 2024.

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