Swachh Survekshan 2020: All you need to know about India’s cleanliness survey

Results of Swachh Survekshan 2020 are set to be announced by Minister of Civil Aviation of India Hardeep Singh Puri. PM Modi, who was originally supposed to announce the results, could not attend the event.

A total of 129 awards will be given by the minister to top performing cities and states in a virtual programme called ‘Swachh Mahotsav’.

Here is all you need to know about Swachh Survekshan:

• Swachh Survekshan was launched by PM Modi in 2016. Mysuru was chosen as the cleanest city in India in that edition of the survey.

• Swachh Survekshan is meant to monitor the performance of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, which was launched on October 2, 2014, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. It aims to make India open-defecation free by 2019.

• The extensive sanitation survey is commissioned by the Ministry of Urban Development and carried out annually by Quality Council of India.

The survey was introduced by the government with the objective of generating large-scale participation in Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. It was also aimed at inculcating a spirit of healthy competition among cities towards becoming India’s cleanest cities.

• Swachh Survekshan 2020 covered 4,242 cities, 62 cantonment boards and 92 Ganga towns. This survey was carried out in 28 days.

• Minister Hardeep Singh Puri will launch Swachh Survekshan 2020 results dashboard and interact with select beneficiaries, swachhagrahis and sanitary workers under the Swachh Bharat Mission- Urban programme on Thursday.

• Last year’s position holder for cleanest city in India, Indore, has emerged victorious for two years before that - in 2017 and 2018.

• Fourth edition of the survey in 2019 covered 4,237 cities. It was the first-of-its-kind completely digital survey completed in a record time of 28 days.