Union Minister Shri  Manohar Lal, Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, released the toolkit for the 10th edition of Swachh Survekshan in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh today.

Swachh Survekshan (SS), the world’s largest urban cleanliness survey, completes a decade. SS is not just an annual survey but a powerful management tool. With an aim to build Garbage Free Cities, it is catalysing change.

 This year the theme for Swachh Survekshan is: Swacchata Ki Nayi Pehel- Badhayein Haath, Karein Safai Saath (स्वच्छता की नई पहल - बढ़ाएं हाथ, करें सफाई साथ). All States and Urban Local Bodies, including Municipal Commissioners and other State representatives, participated in the launch virtually.

Fostering a healthy competition amongst cities, Swachh Survekshan has defined the matrix for swachhata. It has helped in benchmarking of assessment parameters, creating roadmap for Swachh Shehar, steps and components to become a Swachh Shehar and ultimately enabling cleaner cities through on-ground visible swachhata. Over the past 10 years, Swachh Survekshan has stood as a remarkable testament to collaboration and collective responsibility, reflecting the nation’s commitment to making cleanliness a way of life. — truly reflecting Swabhav Swachhata Sanskaar Swachhata. From 73 ULBs in 2016 to assessing 4900 UBLs in 2024, SS has been inspiring cities to raise sanitation standards and deliver quality services to their citizens.

Over the years, citizens’ voice has become a strong tool for assessment in Swachh Survekshan. SS has consistently reflected the strength of citizens’ perception and engagement with swachhata, especially visible cleanliness. Further amplifying this, the 2025–26 toolkit has been designed to give citizens’ opinions greater power and weightage.

Starting this year, citizens will be able to share feedback round the year through multiple platforms, including the Vote For My City App and Portal, MyGov App, Swachhata App, and QR codes. The citizen validation weightage has been increased considerably.

Swachh Survekshan has been assessing Ganga towns as part of its urban cleanliness framework. Expanding its scope, the assessment will now include river towns across the country. A separate matrix has been introduced for coastal areas to bring it under the Swachh Survekshan ambit.

MoHUA launched the largest time-bound and structured mentorship framework in urban waste management mentorship programme under SBM-U – Swachh Shehar Jodi (SSJ), in Sept, 2025. 72 Mentor and 200 mentee cities signed MoUs to foster knowledge transfer, peer learning, and replication of best practices. To strengthen mentorship and peer learning, a new award category has been introduced to recognize Swachh Shehar Jodis, based on the average score of jodis, with recognition across each population category.

To reinforce quality assurance and institutionalize strong feedback and grievance redressal, Swachh Survekshan has introduced a tightly monitored, protocol-driven assessment framework. A national oversight team anchors the process, complemented— for the first time—by a dedicated single-point-of-contact in-charge for each State/UT. Over 3,000 trained field assessors from across the country will conduct a 45-day, on-ground survey covering all ULBs, supported by real-time, GPS-enabled monitoring. The entire process—from evidence submission to verification—is fully digital, transparent, and rigorously quality-checked.

Following the release of the toolkit, the field assessments are expected to begin from mid-February to March 2026. The GFC and ODF certification assessment will also commence from mid Feb., 2026. Swachh Bharat Mission–Urban stands as a testament to the world’s largest Jan Andolan, with Swachh Survekshan at its heart—amplifying the voice of every citizen. It has evolved beyond a city-ranking exercise into a powerful platform that empowers citizens as equal stakeholders, fostering ownership, accountability, and pride. As the race to become the cleanest city intensifies, Swachh Survekshan continues to strengthen a robust ecosystem of feedback and grievance redressal, transforming cleanliness into a shared national aspiration and a matter of collective pride.

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SK