Context:
∙ Recently, the President of India presented the ‘Swachh Survekshan Awards 2023’ at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi.
About Swachh Survekshan Awards 2023:
∙ Indore (in Madhya Pradesh) and Surat (in Gujarat)together were declared as the cleanest cities of the country, and Navi Mumbai (in Maharashtra) ranked third spot.
∙ Indore has been ranked the cleanest city for the seventh time in a row.
∙ Clean Cities (population of less than 1 lakh): Sasvad, Patan and Lonavala secured the top three spots respectively.
∙ Madhyamgram, Kalyani and Haora, in West Bengal, are placed at the bottom.
∙ Cleanest Cantonment: Mhow Cantonment Board in Madhya Pradesh;
∙ SafaiMitra Surakshit Sheher: Chandigarh;
∙ Ganga Towns: Varanasi and Prayagraj secured the 1st and 2nd rank respectively.
∙ Best Performing State:Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh secured the rank 1, 2 and 3 respectively.
∙ Odisha is ranked fourth, followed by Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Sikkim, Karnataka, Goa, Haryana and Bihar.
∙ Rajasthan, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh were placed at the bottom in the rank.
∙ The discharge into rivers or any other water bodies is allowed only after exploring the option of its direct reuse for purposes such as agricultural use, industrial use, etc.
Swachh Survekshan:
∙ It is the world’s largest urban sanitation and cleanliness survey conducted under the ambit of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) since 2016.
a. It is hosted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).
∙ It has been instrumental in fostering a spirit of healthy competition among towns and cities to improve their service delivery to citizens and towards creating cleaner cities.
Theme (2023): ‘Waste to Wealth’
a. For 2024: ‘Reduce, Reuse and Recycle’
