The Swachh Survekshan 2020 is an annual cleanliness survey proposed by the Government of India that annually surveys the hygiene, cleanliness, and sanitation in cities, towns, and villages across the country. The survey was launched as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan project that aims to make the country clean and free of open defecation.

What Is The Swachh Survekshan 2020

As mentioned above, the Swachh Survekshan 2020 is an annual cleanliness survey proposed by the Government of India as a part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan project, which aims to make the country cleaner and defecation-free. The survey is conducted each year, with its results being announced at its official portal. 

The first survey under the Swachh Survekshan 2020 was conducted in the year 2016 that covered around 73 cities, out of which 53 cities had a population of over a million. By the year 2020, the survey had grown to cover more than 4000 cities across the country and was considered the largest cleanliness survey globally. The Quality Council on India carries out the surveys.

How Is The Survey Conducted

The cleanliness survey is conducted annually by the Quality Council Of India who had successfully conducted the same in the year 2020 by covering a total of 4242 cities and towns. The survey had received 5 Lakhs ULB document evidence captured along with 24 Lakh Geotagged photos of fields and 1.9 Crore feedback from real people. 

The 2020 survey had a weightage of 6000 points with various components of sanitation-related aspects used by the conducting authorities, which included the following components – 

• Service Level Progress – 1300 Marks 
• Citizen Feedback – 1500 Marks 
• Direct Observation – 1500 Marks 
• GFC (SWM) – 1000 Marks 
• ODF/ ODF+/ ODF++ – 500 Marks 
• Average Ranking of Quarterly Assessments from the year of April 2019 to June 2019, July 2019 to September 2019, October 2019 to December 2019 – 200 marks

Survey Reports 

For the year 2020 

• In the 2020 survey, the city of Indore in Madhya Pradesh came out as the cleanest city.
• The city of Surat was ranked the second cleanest city in the country, followed by Navi Mumbai of Maharashtra.
• The city of Varanasi was termed as the Best Ganga Town, according to the Central Government’s Cleanliness Survey.
• A total of 1.9 Crore of people from the 4242 cities of the country participated in the survey. 
• The Cleanliness Survey’s main focus was on the collection of segregated waste and maintenance, reuse of wastewater, curtailing the solid waste-based air pollution, among many other factors. 

For the year 2017

• In the 2017 survey, Indore in Madhya Pradesh was ranked as the cleanest city while Gonda in Uttar Pradesh was ranked lowest and the filthiest.
• Of the 10 cleanest cities, two were from Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh each, while Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, and Maharashtra each had a city on the list.
• Of the 10 dirtiest cities, Uttar Pradesh had the names of 5 cities, while two were from Bihar and Punjab each. One was from Maharashtra.
• Out of 500 cities, 118 cities were found to be Open Defecation free.
• A total of 297 cities had a 100% door to door system collection of garbage.
• A total of 37 Lakh people of the country showed interest in the Swachh Survekshan project.
• In a total of 404 cities, at least 75% of residential areas were found to be clean and hygienic.
• Gujarat had 12 cities among the top 50 cleanest cities in the list from the survey, followed by Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh with 11 and 8 cities, respectively.
• Out of the four dirtiest cities in the survey were found to be in Uttar Pradesh, while 50 of the state’s towns were ranked 305 and below.

The City Of Kota 

There was strict criticism regarding the city of Kota in Rajasthan which is known for its famous IITs and medical coaching centres which had received a score of 525 out of 6000 in the survey. The city is located at the bank of the Chambal river and includes some of the best universities, including the Rajasthan Technical University, Indian Institute Of Information Technology, University Of Kota, and other such valued institutions that have put the city’s name in the countries best known academic cities. 

While none of these institutions initiated any project to alleviate the dangerous situations regarding the unhygienic conditions of the city, Experts from the Swachh Survekshan Survey highly criticized their ignorance. Tonnes of garbage and chemical materials were found from the Chambal river, which further directed the disregard of cleanliness in the City. The criticism claimed a lot of hurt to the citizens living in the City as a result of which, around 49 NGOs and social activists took the oath to keep the city neat and clean for the coming days in the future immediately. 

Conclusion

According to the Survey of 2020, the Swachh Survekshan results of 2020 declared the city of Indore in Madhya Pradesh as the cleanest city in India for the fourth consecutive year as far as the results were considered. On the other hand, the city of Surat in Gujarat bagged the second position, followed by Maharashtra’s Navi Mumbai ranking third. The city of Varanasi was given the title of the ‘Best Ganga Town’ according to the Central Government’s Survey.