PIB TrackerSwachh Survekshan 2025-26 covers over 4,751 cities
The President will confer the 10th Swachh Survekshan Awards on 11 November 2026 at Vigyan Bhawan. Cities were scored on 43 indicators across 10 areas, and 70 mentor cities were paired with 191 mentee cities under Swachh Shehar Jodi.
What happened
- The President of India will confer the 10th Swachh Survekshan Awards 2025-26 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, on 11 November 2026.
- The survey covered over 4,751 cities, against 73 urban local bodies in 2016, and scored them on 43 indicators across 10 assessment areas.
- More than 3,000 trained assessors verified evidence on the ground, with GPS-enabled monitoring; submission and verification were fully digital.
- Swachh Shehar Jodi (launched 27 September 2025) linked 70 mentor and 191 mentee cities in 33 States and Union Territories, and its top performers are also honoured.
- Mentee cities improved on visible cleanliness (48 to 70 per cent), door-to-door collection (52 to 74) and access to sanitation (11 to 38) between 2024 and 2025.
For Prelims
- Swachh Survekshan: the flagship cleanliness assessment of Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban, run by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs; it began in 2016 with 73 urban local bodies and now covers over 4,751 cities.
- Swachh Bharat Mission: launched on 2 October 2014 with two components, Swachh Bharat Mission-Grameen for rural areas and Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban for towns and cities.
- SBM-U 2.0: launched in October 2021 as the second phase, shifting the focus from building toilets to waste management and better outcomes.
- ODF ladder: ODF means no open defecation; ODF+ adds working community and public toilets; ODF++ adds safe handling and treatment of faecal sludge; Water+ adds treatment and partial reuse of used water.
- 2025-26 assessment design: 43 indicators in 10 areas, including Used Water Management, Mechanisation of Desludging Services, Overall Welfare of Sanitation Workers and Citizen Feedback and Grievance Redressal.
- Swachh Shehar Jodi: the first urban waste-management mentorship and peer-learning programme; launched by Manohar Lal on 27 September 2025 with a Memorandum of Understanding between mentor and mentee cities.
- Waste collection and processing: PIB reports door-to-door collection at about 98 per cent of urban wards in 2025-26, and processing up from 16 per cent in 2014 to roughly 80 per cent.
- Theme of the 10th edition: 'Swachhata Ki Nayi Pehel - Badhayein Haath, Karein Safai Saath'; the ceremony is on 11 November 2026 and the winners are not yet announced.
For UPSC: Swachh Survekshan 2025-26 (10th edition): over 4,751 cities, 43 indicators, 10 areas; Swachh Shehar Jodi pairs 70 mentor with 191 mentee cities; awards on 11 November.
What it is NOT: The release does not name any winning city or State, give ranks, scores or the number of award categories, or say how many of the 4,751 cities were assessed in each size class. It does not say whether the mentee-city percentages compare the same cities in both years, or what they measure; the national door-to-door figure of 98 per cent of wards is far higher than the mentee score of 74 per cent. Nothing is said on assessor audits or on how citizen feedback was weighted.
For Mains
Syllabus: GS2.10 · GS2.15 · Linkage L1
Anchor
Sanitation is a municipal function that citizens judge daily, yet cities seldom see how they compare. An annual, public ranking turns local cleanliness into a contest that mayors, councils and residents can watch.
Substantiation (data)
The survey grew from 73 urban local bodies in 2016 to over 4,751 cities. It uses 43 indicators in 10 areas and more than 3,000 assessors; mentee cities rose from 48 to 70 per cent on visible cleanliness and 11 to 38 on sanitation access.
Position
Pairing 70 mentor cities with 191 mentee cities spreads practice from leaders to laggards. Added indicators for river fronts, coastlines, tourist sites and school behaviour widen the test beyond streets and bins.
Counterpoint
A ranking rewards what is measured and can be staged for assessors. Mentee scores of 30 per cent on source segregation and 38 on sanitation access show how far many cities remain from the 98 per cent door-to-door national figure.
Way forward
Publish city-wise scores and audit samples, track the same cities across years, tie grants to verified outcomes in desludging and used-water treatment, and protect sanitation workers' welfare indicators from being scored as paperwork.
Conclusion
The survey has become a national habit of measurement. Its value now depends on whether better scores in mentee cities hold up outside the assessment window.
Deploys into: Urban local governance and municipal functions · Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban and incentive-based ranking · Cooperative federalism and peer learning · Sanitation workers and citizen feedback
Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs · 2026-11-09 · PRID 2334316 · PIB source ↗