Reason, not rhetoric, must drive ONOE
The BJP-led NDA government has made a momentous move by introducing the 'One Nation, One Election' Bill in Parliament this week.
President Ram Nath Kovind will honour the awardees of Swachh Survekshan (SS) 2021 at the ‘Swachh Amrit Mahotsav’ organised by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) at Vigyan Bhawan here on Saturday.
In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a Garbage Free India under Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0, the ceremony will also award cities certified under the Star Rating Protocol for Garbage Free Cities.
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The ‘Mahotsav’ will also pay tribute to the sanitation workers by recognising top-performing cities under the Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge earlier initiated by the Ministry. This is a major landmark since the launch of Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0, by the Prime Minister on 1 October.
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The scale of Swachh Survekshan is evidenced in the consistent increase in the number of cities over the years. From surveying 73 major cities in 2016, 4,320 cities have participated in 2021, the 6th edition of Swachh Survekshan which has become the world’s largest urban cleanliness survey.
The success of this year’s survey can be gauged through the unprecedented number of citizen feedback received this year – over 5 crores, a marked increase from last year’s 1.87 crores. The 2021 edition was conducted in the record time of 28 days despite several on-ground challenges owing to the COVID pandemic. There have been significant on-ground improvements in the performance of States and cities, as compared to the previous year.
For example, 6 states and 6 UTs have shown overall improvement (ranging between 5 – 25%) in their overall ground level performance over last year.
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