Context
President of India recently conferred the Swachh Survekshan 2025-26 awards, where Navi Mumbai was officially adjudged India’s cleanest city, notably ending Indore’s historic eight-year winning streak at the top.
About Swachh Survekshan
- Nature: An annual nationwide cleanliness assessment of cities and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).
- Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).
- Implementing Department: Department of Urban Development (DoUD), MoHUA.
- Objective: To assess urban sanitation and cleanliness, promote healthy competition among cities and encourage citizen participation.
- Launch: 2016, with 73 cities in its first edition.
Key Highlights of Swachh Survekshan 2025–26
- Coverage: Expanded to 4,751 cities.
- Citizen Participation: Around 2.70 crore citizens provided feedback.
- Assessment: ULBs were evaluated across 43 indicators covering 10 critical domains.
- Assessment Mechanism: Over 3,000 trained assessors conducted on-ground evaluations using GPS-enabled monitoring and a digital verification framework.
- Improvement: Over 350 ULBs improved their rankings by more than 500 positions, while 1,700+ smaller cities improved their rankings over 2024–25.
Major Award Categories
The awards covered the following categories:
- Swachh Shehar Jodi (SSJ).
- Clean Cities of Super Swachh League.
- Swachh Shehar across five population categories.
- Swachh River Front Town.
- Swachh Coastal Town.
- Clean Himalayan City.
- State First Swachh City.
Winners of 2025-26
| Category | Top Performers |
| Swachh Shehar Jodi | Ahmedabad–Sanand |
| Super Swachh League | Navi Mumbai, Surat, Vijayawada |
| Million Plus Population | Visakhapatnam, Jabalpur, Lucknow |
| Clean Himalayan Cities | Rudrapur, Jammu, Shopian |
| Swachh River Front Towns | Rewa, Bilaspur, Varanasi |
| Swachh Coastal Towns | Puri, Alappuzha, Ratnagiri |
| Important CTC from this Article: Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) |
Q. Consider the following statements regarding the Swachh Survekshan Awards 2025-26:
1. Indore retained its title as the cleanest city in India for the ninth consecutive year.
2. The Swachh Survekshan is the flagship cleanliness assessment conducted under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban.
3. Puri was ranked as the top city in the newly emphasized Swachh Coastal Town category.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only
Explanation:
• Statement 1 is incorrect: Navi Mumbai was adjudged the cleanest city in India in the 2025-26 edition, ending Indore's eight-year streak at the top.
• Statement 2 is correct: The survey is the flagship urban cleanliness assessment carried out by the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U).
• Statement 3 is correct: Puri in Odisha secured the first rank in the Swachh Coastal Town category, followed by Alappuzha and Ratnagiri.