New Delhi, November 9: President Droupadi Murmu will present the Swachh Survekshan 2025-26 awards, the tenth edition of the national urban cleanliness survey, on 11 November at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs said.
Union Minister Manohar Lal, who holds the Housing and Urban Affairs and Power portfolios, and Minister of State Tokhan Sahu will attend. The awards recognise India’s cleanest cities across categories for their work under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban.
How the survey has grown
The survey covered 73 urban local bodies in 2016. The latest edition covered more than 4,751 cities. Its theme this year is “Swachhata Ki Nayi Pehel – Badhayein Haath, Karein Safai Saath”.
The ministry said this edition places more weight on citizen feedback and covers urban riverfronts, coastlines and water bodies more widely. It also adds indicators on preventing open defecation and open urination, the cleanliness of tourist and heritage sites, and behaviour-change programmes in schools.
Assessment method
Urban local bodies were assessed on 43 indicators across 10 areas, including waste segregation, collection and transport; solid waste management; visible cleanliness; access to sanitation; used water management; the welfare of sanitation workers; and citizen feedback and grievance redressal. More than 3,000 trained assessors carried out on-ground evaluations with GPS-enabled monitoring, and the process was digital from evidence submission to verification.
Swachh Shehar Jodi
Top performers under the Swachh Shehar Jodi initiative will also be recognised. Launched by Manohar Lal on 27 September 2025, it pairs 70 mentor cities with 191 mentee cities across 33 states and Union Territories for peer learning in urban waste management.
The ministry said mentee cities improved between Swachh Survekshan 2024 and the latest edition. Visible cleanliness rose from 48 per cent to 70 per cent, door-to-door collection from 52 per cent to 74 per cent, source segregation from 16 per cent to 30 per cent and access to sanitation from 11 per cent to 38 per cent. Used water management rose from 32 per cent to 53 per cent and advocacy for cleanliness from 48 per cent to 66 per cent. The ministry credited the mentorship from high-performing cities.
Related: Delhi records cleanest October in eight years with average AQI of 166