In the Union Budget 2021, the Government announced that the second phase of the Swachh Bharat Mission focuses on waste segregation and sewage management in those cities that have a population of less than 1lakh. The sixth edition of the Annual Swachh Survekshan was launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. The financial approval from the cabinet is still awaited for the second phase of the Swachh Bharat Mission. Also, the second phase of the Swachh Bharat Mission will mandate few things that will target legacy landfills, single-use plastic, and construction and demolition waste.
The Swachh Survekshan introduced by the government includes the survey for the waste segregation, capacity to process the wet waste, recycling of the dry waste, processing the waste that comes out from construction and demolition. The Quality Council of India has appointed around 2000 surveyors. These surveys will visit randomly about 4321 cities across India in March 2021 to assess them concerning their sanitation parameters.
The Surveyors will conclude and decide which cities are Open Defecation Free (ODF), ODF+ (when the toilets are maintained), ODF++ (when sewage systems operate) as well as the Cities will be rated on their garbage disposal capability like which city is garbage-free. The Union Budget also stated that for the first time the districts in India will also be assessed based on their underlying urban local bodies. Mysuru has won the first Swachh Survekshan Award while Indore has won the last three Swachh Survekshan Awards. The Swachh Survekshan survey expanded from 73 cities in 2016 to 4,242 cities in the last year in 2020. The Winner for the 2020 Swachh Survekshan is yet to announce and will be announced soon.
