The President of India recently conferred Swachh Survekshan awards 2023 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi hosted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).
About Swachh Survekshan:
- Swachh Survekshan started to highlight integrated strict process and discipline among cities in terms of Swachhata, since 2016.
- It has evolved into the world’s largest annual survey to foster healthy competition among cities and is a robust third-party assessment.
- Only 15-16% scientific processing of waste was done in 2014, reaching almost 76% in 2023.
- By the end of this mission, India would be fully transitioned from manhole to machine hole and bring considerable behavioural change amongst people.
- Every city in India is Open Defecation Free (ODF) with a vision of Antodaya se Sarvodaya and aims to follow circular waste management under Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0.
- The award ceremony served as a platform for cities and citizens to recommit themselves to the goal of achieving Garbage Free cities, with renewed determination and enthusiasm.
About Swachh Survekshan Awards 2023:
- Theme for 2023: “Waste to Wealth”.
- Theme for Cleanliness Survey 2024: “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.”
- This principle of Waste to Wealth, aligns with Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)-U 2.0 to foster circularity in waste management and extracting value from waste.
- The outreach of this initiative expanded to 4477 cities from 73 major cities in 2016.
- It focused on transforming waste into valuable resources and was evaluated by a team of over 3,000 assessors based on 46 indicators.
- These indicators include segregated door-to-door waste collection, zero waste events, disabled-friendly toilets, and improved plastic waste management.
- City awards prioritizes legacy dumpsites, managing plastic waste, implementing the principles of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and ensuring the safety of Safai Mitras.
- It marked the ‘Ek Tareekh Ek Ghanta Ek Saath’ campaign and released the Swachh Bharat Mission Anthem for 2024 as ‘Naya Sankalp Hai, Naya Prakalp Hai’.
- An exhibition displaying latest technologies and equipments in waste management like mechanical sweeping machines, sewage cleaning robots, waste collecting robots, etc.
Categories of Awards:
- Clean Cities: Surat bagged the top honours, alongside Indore, who had conquered the top spot alone for 6 consecutive years, followed by Navi Mumbai, Visakhapatnam and Bhopal.
- In the category of cities with a population of less than 1 lakh, Sasvad, Patan and Lonavala secured the top three spots.
- The dirtiest cities include Kalyani, Madhyagram, Krishnanagar, Asansol, Rishra, Bidhannagar, Kanchrapara, Kolkata, and Bhatpara.
- Cleanest Cantonment: Mhow Cantonment Board in Madhya Pradesh was first, while Nainital ranked last.
- Safai Mitra Suraksha:
- Chandigarh walked away with the award for the Best Safaimitra Surakshit Sheher.
- Ganga Towns: Varanasi and Prayagraj won the top two awards.
- Best Performing State: Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh won the top three awards.
Least clean states are Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan, and Nagaland
Ref: Source
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