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  • Lessons from Swachh Survekshan 2024-25 Sanitation Survey

Lessons from Swachh Survekshan 2024-25 Sanitation Survey

Syllabus:

GS Paper – 2Health/Welfare Schemes

GS Paper – 3Urbanization

WHY IN THE NEWS?

The 9th edition of Swachh Survekshan, the world’s largest cleanliness survey, offered key insights into urban sanitation, solid waste management, and the role of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs). With over 4,500 cities participating, this edition introduced broader competition, highlighted progress in smaller cities, and promoted Reduce-Reuse-Recycle (RRR) principles. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) oversaw this comprehensive urban sanitation survey as part of India’s ongoing cleanliness drive.

Evolution and Scope of Swachh Survekshan

● Largest Participation Ever: Over 4,500 cities participated compared to fewer than 100 in 2016.

● Third-party Verified Data: Included inputs from 140 million citizens and independent assessments through digital platforms.

● Comprehensive Parameters: Survey measured 10 dimensions, from segregation to sanitation worker welfare, including solid and liquid waste management.

● Reality Check for Policymakers: Provided a credible mirror on urban waste practices and sanitation gaps.

● Driver of Competition: Created healthy rivalry among cities to improve cleanliness performance, fostering peer learning and competitive federalism.

Democratisation of Rankings and Inclusion

● Super Swachh League Introduced: Created space for long-time top performers to compete separately, encouraging continuous improvement.

● More Population Categories: Expanded from 2 to 5 population groups (e.g., under 20,000 to 1 million+), allowing for fairer comparisons between big cities and smaller urban areas.

● Opportunity for New Entrants: Cities like Ahmedabad, Bhopal, and Lucknow broke into top rankings.

● Odisha’s Rise: Cities like Bhubaneswar, Rourkela, Cuttack showed significant improvement.

● Pan-India Progress: Cities from different states are showing signs of catching up with cleanliness leaders, demonstrating the success of the nationwide cleanliness movement.

Innovative Practices by Leading Cities

● Indore’s Six-Bin System: Segregates waste into dry, wet, plastic, e-waste, hazardous, and sanitary.

● Surat’s Sewage Revenue: Treats and sells sewage water, generating income and improving liquid waste management.

● Pune’s Ragpicker Cooperatives: Anchored waste management in community-based models, promoting inclusive governance and self help groups (SHGs) engagement.

● Visakhapatnam’s Eco-Park: Converted a legacy waste site into a green public space.

● Agra’s Dumpsite Transformation: Used bioremediation to turn Kuberpur into 47 acres of green, showcasing successful dumpsite remediation.

Gaps in Participation and Need for Behavioural Change

● Southern Cities Lag: Cities like Bengaluru underperform despite potential; Tirupati, Guntur, Mysuru did better.

● Low Tourist Appeal: India’s <1.5% global tourist share signals the need for sustained cleanliness efforts.

● Public Participation Low: Despite legal backing, citizen engagement in RRR remains limited.

● Sanitation Behavioural Gap: While open defecation has reduced and toilet access improved, waste intolerance is not yet societal. The focus has shifted from Open Defecation Free (ODF) status to ODF Plus certification.

● Urban Chaos but Possibility: Examples like Surat’s 30-year rise show transformation is possible with sustained will and citizen-centric approaches.

Future Focus: From Waste to Wealth

● RRR as Theme: ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle‘ can boost employment, enterprise, and SHG empowerment, creating entrepreneurial opportunities in the waste management sector.

● Policy Support Needed: Investors in waste-to-energy need better commercial viability incentives to promote the waste-to-wealth model.

● ULBs as Crucial Players: Decentralised bodies must lead in segregation, collection, and plastic/e-waste processing, focusing on capacity building for sustainable urban waste management.

● Decentralisation Matters: Real progress will depend on grassroots-level delivery mechanisms and inclusive governance.

● Need for Innovation: Tech-based and community-driven innovations must be scaled nationwide, leveraging digital platforms and youth empowerment for cleaner urban India.

Conclusion

Swachh Survekshan 2024-25 offers valuable lessons in scaling urban cleanliness, fostering innovation, and enabling inclusive participation. However, true progress lies beyond rankings — in embedding cleanliness as a civic culture and empowering ULBs to build resilient, sustainable waste management systems rooted in citizen responsibility and circular economy principles. As India moves towards its vision of Viksit Bharat 2047, the Swachh Survekshan will continue to play a crucial role in driving urban transformation and sanitation excellence through performance benchmarking and cooperative action.

Source: TH

Mains Practice Question

Q. Swachh Survekshan has become a flagship mechanism for evaluating urban sanitation in India. Critically evaluate its role in fostering sustainable waste management, behavioural change, and decentralised innovation. How can the Reduce-Reuse-Recycle (RRR) approach be mainstreamed through policy and local governance mechanisms? Discuss with examples.