President of India to award Cleanest Cities

The stage is set to celebrate the biggest urban sanitation festival of the year, where Hon’ble President Smt. Droupadi Murmu will honour the cleanest States and cities of Azaadi@75 Swachh Survekshan 2022 at an event to be organised by Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) at Talkatora Stadium, New Delhi, on 1^st October 2022. The day will mark the first anniversary of launch of the Swachh Bharat Mission – Urban 2.0 by Hon’ble Prime Minister on 1^st Oct 2021, with its aspirational vision of creating Garbage Free cities.

The award ceremony, to be attended by a host of dignitaries including Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Hon’ble Union Minister of Housing & Urban Affairs, Shri Kaushal Kishore, Hon’ble Minister of State, MoHUA, Urban Development Ministers and Mayors from across the country, will see over 160 awards being presented across different categories. Nearly 1,800 guests comprising state and city administrators, sector partners, subject experts, as well as youth organisations, sanitation workers, representatives from industry, Startups in sanitation and waste management sector, academic institutions, NGOs and CSOs will attend the event. Cities will also be putting up screens in prominent places to enable their citizens to view the live ceremony.

The scale of Swachh Survekshan is evidenced in the consistent increase in the number of cities over the years. From surveying 73 major cities in 2016 and 434 cities in 2017 the 7^th edition of Swachh Survekshan has become became the world’s largest urban cleanliness survey,  with 4,355 cities having participated in the survey. This year’s survey with a “People First” theme captured unprecedented number of citizen feedback this year – over 9 crores, a marked increase from last year’s 5 crores.

There were some crucial new aspects introduced in the SS 2022.  For example, the scope of survey was expanded to cover 100% wards for sampling, as compared to 40% in previous years; priority was given to the voices of senior citizens and young adults during the feedback process, more opportunities for awards were created for smaller cities,  ‘City Report Card’ for citizens, based on SS 2022 survey results, has been introduced for residents to see the status of sanitation of their respective cities; ‘SafaiMitra Suraksha’ has been made mandatory for all cities, and respect to Azadi Movement was incorporated through Citizen-led engagement cleanliness of monuments/parks associated with freedom movement.

The award ceremony is being organized as part of the Swachh Amrit Mohotsav being conducted by MoHUA, from 17^th September 2022 to 2^nd October 2022 when India is celebrating eight years of accomplishments of SBM-Urban. The fortnight long celebrations included a wide range of unique initiatives aligned to the overall objectives of SBM-U 2.0. The celebrations kicked off on 17^th Sept with the first-of-its-kind Indian Swachhata League where nearly half a million youth and citizens across more than 1,850 cities formed teams and competed to clean up beaches, hills,  and public places. The top 70 teams will be felicitated by MoHUA on 30^th Sept. On 20^th Sept, MoHUA identified 30 top startups in the waste management sector through an innovative Startup Challenge, to help cities to address a variety of ground level challenges in sanitation and waste management. To sustain these efforts, an online Startup Gateway has also been launched where startups can continue to showcase their solutions, for benefit of cities. On 26^th Sept, a very innovative challenge – the Swachh Toycathon – was launched by MOHUA to further the ‘waste to wealth’ approach, and encourage reuse of waste into toys.  The two days preceding the ceremony was devoted to a capacity building initiative – “Swachh Sheher – Samvaad and Tech Exhibition” – that comprised of technical and administrative discussions specially curated around topics related to management of municipal solid waste and liquid waste, to enable States and cities to deliberate on their strategies,  best practices and challenges in their journey towards Garbage Free status.

Over the last eight years, the Mission has reached all corners of the country changing the lives of countless citizens with its ‘people first’ focus. The Mission has transformed the sanitation space in urban India by building over 70 lakh household, community and public toilets, thus providing safe and dignified sanitation solutions for all. SBM-U has prioritized the needs of women, transgender communities, and persons with disabilities (Divyangs). The thrust on scientific waste management is evident with waste processing in India going up by over four times from 18% in 2014 to 73% today. This has been aided through 100% door-to-door waste collection in 98% wards and source segregation of waste being practised by citizens in letter and spirit across 89% wards. More importantly, the Mission has been able to bring about a marked difference in the lives of sanitation workers and informal waste workers, by institutionalizing safety and welfare of all those workers who are engaged in cleaning of sewer and septic tank cleaning operations.

The launch of Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 on 1^st October 2021 has set the stage for the next phase of Swachhata focusing on sustainability of sanitation and solid waste management outcomes. The Mission is now focusing on ensuring complete access to sanitation facilities to serve additional population migrating from rural to urban areas. Complete liquid waste management in cities in less than 1 lakh population – a new component introduced under SBM-Urban 2.0, is being taken up to ensure that all wastewater is safely contained, collected, transported and treated so that no wastewater pollutes our water bodies. In the area of solid waste management, the Mission is enforcing source segregation of waste for maximum recovery of  value from waste, setting up of Material Recovery Facilities, and waste processing facilities with concentrated efforts on phasing out single use plastic in every city, setting up of construction & demolition (C&D) waste processing facilities and deployment of mechanical sweepers in National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) cities. Remediation of all legacy dumpsites with the objective of making cities Garbage Free is another critical component under SBM-U 2.0. Through intensive Information, Education & Communication (IEC) and behaviour change activities, the Mission will further intensify and strengthen the ‘Jan Andolan’ or people’s movement that SBM-U has become synonymous with.

The award ceremony is expected to not only be a fitting salute to the unwavering dedication of cities towards Swachhata but also a clarion call to Urban India to recommit their pledge towards building a cleaner, healthier and more inclusive ecosystem for all.

RKJ/M