Will India achieve its target? World’s largest cleanliness survey kicks-off

The third cleanliness survey, Swachh Survekshan 2018, has kicked-off that will check the progress and impact of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in several hundred cities.

The Swachh Survekshan 2018 will include 4041 cities this time, making it the biggest survey in the world. The government has decided ranking categories as: 500 cities with over one lakh population will have National Ranking and 3541 cities with less than one lakh population will have state/regional ranking.

Hardeep Puri, Minister of State, Housing & Urban Affairs said the Swachh Survekshan 2018 will focus on outcome and sustainability.

The survey is expected to impact more than 40 crore urban population and ensure level playing field in similar smaller cities.

The methodology of the survey focuses on collection of data from three sources- service level progress; direct observation and citizens’ feedback.

The service level progress carries 35% weightage in the survey, where ULB’s documents are physically verified to assess whether systems and processes are in place to implement Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) in the most efficient way.

The survey will record the progress in following six broad parameters:

The direct observation has 30% weightage to observe and ascertain general cleanliness in the cities by making random field visits in different parts of the city and public conveniences covering community/public toilets.

Whereas, citizens’ feedback holds 35% weightage to diagnose the experience of the citizens.

The ‘Swachh Survekshan’ was conceptualised in 2015 and the first survey was conducted in 2016 that assessed 73 Urban Local Bodies. Mysuru got the tag of cleanest city of India. In 2017, Indore emerged as the cleanest city.