New Delhi, November 9: President Droupadi Murmu will confer the Swachh Survekshan Awards 2025-26 at a ceremony at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on November 11, honouring India's cleanest cities, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs announced on Monday.

Source: PIB Delhi via Technology For You

The awards are the culmination of the 10th edition of Swachh Survekshan, the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban's flagship cleanliness assessment, held on the theme 'Swachhata Ki Nayi Pehel — Badhayein Haath, Karein Safai Saath'. Union Minister Manohar Lal and Minister of State Tokhan Sahu will be present at the ceremony, according to the ministry's statement, carried by ANI.

Source: ANI via Devdiscourse

Urban local bodies were evaluated across 10 key areas — segregation, collection and transportation of waste, solid waste management, visible cleanliness, access to sanitation, mechanisation of desludging services, ecosystem strengthening and institutional parameters, used water management, advocacy for Swachhata, and the overall welfare of sanitation workers together with citizen feedback and grievance redressal. More than 3,000 trained assessors conducted on-ground evaluations supported by real-time GPS-enabled monitoring, and the ministry said the process, from evidence submission to verification, remained fully digital.

Source: PIB Delhi via Technology For You

This year's edition put greater emphasis on citizen feedback, expanded coverage to urban river fronts, coastlines and water bodies, and added focused indicators on preventing open defecation and open urination, cleanliness of tourist and heritage hotspots, and behaviour-change initiatives in schools, the ministry said.

Source: IANS via NewKerala

Alongside the top clean cities, the awards will also recognise top performers from the 'Swachh Shehar Jodi' mentorship initiative, launched by Manohar Lal on September 27, 2025, which paired 70 mentor cities with 191 mentee cities across 33 States and Union Territories. The ministry said mentee cities improved sharply between the 2024 and latest editions — visible cleanliness rose from 48% to 70%, door-to-door collection from 52% to 74%, source segregation from 16% to 30% and access to sanitation from 11% to 38%.

Source: PIB Delhi via Technology For You

Cities and states across the country now await the winner announcements on November 11. Chhattisgarh officials have said Raipur, Bilaspur and Bilha have been selected for national awards in this edition, according to reports — the full national list will be confirmed at the Vigyan Bhawan ceremony.