Swachh Survekshan 2023 under Swachh Bharat Mission Urban 2.0 was launched on Monday by MoHUA with the theme of ‘Waste to Wealth’ for Garbage Free Cities.
The Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) Manoj Joshi launched the eighth edition of Swachh Survekshan (SS) – SS 2023 under Swachh Bharat Mission Urban 2.0 in a virtual event.
Designed with the theme of ‘Waste to Wealth’ as its driving philosophy, SS 2023 is curated towards achieving circularity in waste management. The survey would give priority to the principle of 3Rs – Reduce, Recycle and Reuse.
Speaking at the launch event, Shri Manoj Joshi said that the Swachh Survekshan has developed into an inspiration tool, rather than being just an assessment tool.
This largest survey undertaken anywhere has brought about substantive changes at the ground level, with cities performing well and having a sense of pride.
He said that the Swachh Survekshan is not only for the top performers, but is also important for the under-achievers, who must take steps to rise to the occasion and do the needful.
Shri Joshi said that the parameters of the Swachh Survekshan have been designed in such a manner, more so in the recent round, so as to nudge everyone to move in a new direction, enabling all-around cleanliness, throughout the year.
Emphasizing citizens’ feedback, the Secretary said free and frank feedback is of utmost importance, as citizens residing anywhere in the country aspire to and deserve a clean environment.
Over the years, Swachh Survekshan has emerged as the largest Urban sanitation survey in the world. The seventh edition of Swachh Survekshan – ‘Azadi @ 75 Swachh Survekshan 2022’ was a landmark Survekshan as it coincided with the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.
The SS 2022 survey covered 4,355 cities, 85,860 wards, 2.12 lakhs locations visited, 5.5 lakhs documents assessed, 1.14 Crores citizen feedback recorded, 4.77 lakhs citizen validation undertaken, 23.38 lakhs photos and videos collected as evidence, and 17.24 lakhs data points collected. The SS 2022 survey has been completed and the results are under preparation.
It was observed that whenever the SS survey starts, there is an enhanced level of activities undertaken by the cities and cities are visibly cleaner during the months the survey is conducted.
Therefore, in SS 2023, the evaluation will be conducted in 4 phases, instead of 3 phases in earlier editions, and citizen validation and field assessment of processing facilities is being introduced in phase 3 also, in addition to phase 4.