Swachh Survekshan Grameen Awards 2018 : Haryana Best State

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently conferred Swachh Survekshan Grameen Awards 2018 to top ranked states and districts. Haryana was ranked as best State, Satara District of Maharashtra was ranked as best district. Uttar Pradesh was rewarded for maximum citizens’ participation.

Facts :

• The awards were given at concluding session of Mahatma Gandhi International Sanitation Convention at Rahtrapati Bhawan Cultural Centre.
• The rankings were based on the National Swachh Survekshan Grameen 2018 of the Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.
• Haryana was ranked as the best State while Satara District of Maharashtra was ranked as the best district.Uttar Pradesh was rewarded for maximum citizens’ participation.
• The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation had commissioned “Swachh Survekshan Grameen-2018” (SSG 2018) through an independent survey agency to develop ranking of all districts of India on the basis of quantitative and qualitative sanitation (Swachhata) parameters.
• This ranking was done based on a comprehensive set of parameters including surveys of public places like schools, Anganwadis, PHCs, Haat/ Bazaars, Panchayat and citizen’s perception of Swachhata and their recommendations for improvement of the program and data from the SBM-G IMIS.
• As part of Swachh SurvekshanGrameen, 6786 villages in 685 Districts across India were covered. 27,963 public places namely schools, anganwadis, public health centres, haat/ bazaars/religious places in these 6786 villages were visited by an independent agency for survey.
• Around 182,531 citizens were interviewed for their feedback in villages on SBM-G related issues. Also, citizens were mobilised to provide feedback on sanitation relation related issues online using an application developed for the purpose.
• The collection of data from Direct Observation were based on physical observation of the sanitation status in public places by the survey agency. The survey agency used maps and simple handheld device/recording formats to record their observations and findings along with Photographs/videos, wherever necessary.
• Feedback from people were obtained using Community wide open meetings,Personal Interviews and Focussed Group Discussions. FGDs were conducted in each village. More than 1.5 crore people participated in the SSG 2018 and provided their feedback.

Overall Ranking:

• Top 3 States-1) Haryana, 2) Gujarat 3) Maharashtra
• Top 3 Districts -1) Satara, Maharashtra 2) Rewari, Haryana 3) Pedapalli, Telangana
• States with maximum citizen participation -1) Uttar Pradesh 2) Gujarat 3) Maharashtra
• Districts with maximum citizens’ participation -1) Nashik, Maharashtra 2) Solapur, Maharashtra 3) Chittorgarh, Rajasthan

Zonal Ranking:

TOP 3 STATES – ZONAL AND UT LEVEL

TOP 3 DISTRICTS – ZONAL AND UT LEVEL

Background :

• As a prelude to encouraging cities to improve urban sanitation, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) conducted ‘Swachh Survekshan-2016’ survey for the rating of 73 cities in January 2016 followed by ‘Swachh Survekshan-2017’ conducted in January- February 2017 ranking 434 cities.
• In a bid to scale up the coverage of the ranking exercise and encourage cities to actively implement mission initiatives in a timely and innovative manner, MoHUA conducted its third survey 'Swachh Survekshan - 2018' covering 4203 Cities including 61 Cantonment Boards.
• The 'Swachh Survekshan - 2018' ranking of the Cities, separately done for those with a population of one lakh or more (national ranking) and those below one lakh (state and zonal rankings), was based on assessment of progress from January 2017 till December 2017 (extended till January 2018 for Cantonment Boards only) under Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U).

Analysis :

• The objective of the survey was to encourage large scale citizen participation and create awareness amongst all sections of society about the importance of working together towards making towns and cities a better place to live in.
• Additionally, the survey also intends to foster a spirit of healthy competition among towns and cities to improve their service delivery to citizens, towards creating cleaner cities.
• In order for cities to reap the maximum developmental benefits from the survey, concerted efforts were being taken to strengthen the capacities of the cities to understand the modalities and spirit of the survey.
• In addition to giving towns and cities more time to prepare for the survey, the intensive interactions with ULBs to familiarize them with the survey methodology, survey process and output indicators, and also clarifying their expectations from the survey is being done.
• The SSG 2018 turned out to be massive mass mobilisation exercise with communities in each village undertaking special drives to improve the general cleanliness in their villages. Gram Panchayats invested funds from their local area development fund to augment the sanitation situation in public places.

Summary of Coverage :

Overview of Swachh Survekshan 2018 :

By: Harman Sandhu