Swachh Survekshan Scheme – A Cleaning Initiative

Swachh Survekshan Scheme – A Cleaning Initiative

The Government of India has launched the third cleaning survey across 4,041 cities and towns of India. A new and revised methodology is implemented to conduct the survey. The initiative is name as “Swachh Survekshan- 2018”. It is the grading exercise by the Government to assess the cleanliness of urban and rural areas and successful implementation of the “Swachhata mission” initiatives in innovative and timely manner. Under this initiative, the ranks will be allotted to the cities and the towns as per the cleanliness. 

Objective of the Mission-

The main motto of the survey is to encourage the participation of the large scale citizen. It also creates awareness to all sections of the society regarding the importance of co-operation to make their cities and towns the better place to reside in. Apart from that, the “Swachh Survekshan- 2018” survey intends to create the spirit of a healthy competition among the towns and cities to upgrade the delivery of service to the citizens to create cleaner towns and cities.

Govt. Bodies Involved in the Initiative-

The “Ministry of Urban Development” under the Government of India has taken up the Swachh Survekshan Initiative to conduct in the urban areas. On the other hand, the “Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation” would conduct the initiative in the rural areas.  The Quality Council of India (QCI) is commissioned the responsibility to carry the entire assessment.

Features of the Scheme-

• Under this survey which is launched by the Housing and Urban Affairs  Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, 500 cities which have more than 1 lakh population and every state and UT capitals would have the all-India ranking. 

• 3,541 cities with less than 1 lakh population will have zonal and state rankings. 
• The cities will be graded as per as the 71 sanitation-related criteria with different weightage. 
• The total marks of the survey must be 4,000 while the 2017 survey had only 2,000 marks. 
• There must be strict negative marking which must be introduced in 2018 to ensure the cities must not make any false claim about the improvement of the sanitation infrastructure. 
• If the claims of any city government regarding any cleanliness parameter are found not to be correct by the independent assessors, then that city must get 0 marks for those parameters. It will attract 33% negative marks on total marks.
•  The “Swachh Survekshan” survey is the part of Swachh Bharat Mission which was launched in 2016. In 2017 survey, almost 434 cities and towns with more than 1 lakh population and the state capitals were ranked.  
• The “Swachh Survekshan” 2018 survey will be the first pan-India exercise. It is the largest in the world, According to the minister, the Swachh Bharat Mission is a kind of people's movement. 
• Detailing the changes in assessment, the weightage of feedback of the citizen is increased to the 35 % in the “Swachh Survekshan” 2018 survey. The direct observation weightage is increased to 30 % .While the 'service level progress' is reduced from 45 to 35 per cent. 
• An 'innovation' is introduced with 5% weightage to encourage the cities and towns to start the innovative sanitation programs. The weightage for ‘processing and disposal' component is increased to 25%. 
• The weightage for 'Open-Defecation Free' remains unchanged at 30%, while the 'information, education and communication (IEC)’ components are kept 5%. 
• The results of the 2018 survey would be announced next year.