Swachh Survekshan 2024-25 Awards to be presented on July 17

KOHIMA —  The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has announced that the prestigious Swachh Survekshan 2024-25 Awards will be presented on July 17, during a national ceremony at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.

The awards will be conferred by the President of India, Droupadi Murmu, in the presence of Union Minister Manohar Lal and Minister of State for MoHUA Tokhan Sahu.

A total of 78 awards will be presented this year across four categories. The Swachh Survekshan is India’s annual survey of cleanliness across villages, towns and cities. It may be mentioned that Nagaland was ranked 24th in the ‘Best-Performing States’ category at the 2023 edition of the awards. Dimapur was declared the “Clean City within Nagaland” with a population of more than one lakh, while Tuensang received the award for “Clean City within Nagaland” with a population of less than one lakh.

Also read: Centre directs states on use of national emblem

According to Tuesday’s announcement, this year’s awards will cover categories such as the Super Swachh League, top three clean cities across five population groups, special categories for Ganga towns, cantonment boards, Safai Mitra Suraksha, Mahakumbh, and state-level awards recognising promising clean cities in each State and Union Territory.

Starting with 73 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in 2016, the latest edition of Swachh Survekshan now covers more than 4,500 cities. The Ministry stated that this year’s edition not only celebrates the top-performing cities but also recognises smaller cities demonstrating strong progress and potential in maintaining cleanliness.

The assessment conducted for the 2024 awards reportedly marked a milestone in public engagement, successfully involving 14 crore citizens through face-to-face interactions, the Swachhata App, MyGov platform and various social media platforms.

To ensure fair competition, cities were classified into five categories based on population size—very small cities with populations below 20,000; small cities with 20,000 to 50,000; medium cities with populations ranging from 50,000 to 3 lakh; big cities with 3 to 10 lakh; and million-plus cities with populations exceeding 10 lakh. Each category was assessed using parameters tailored to its size and specific needs, and the cleanest cities within each group will be recognised during the awards ceremony, the Ministry added.