As part of Swachh Survekshan (SS), Govt of India (GoI) has been asking Indian city governments to provide information about their efforts to keep their cities clean for the last 4 years. Cities report to the union government on various efforts undertaken by the city like - regular waste collection, segregation of waste, or reduction of single use plastic. Based on this information, each city is scored and ranked against other cities.

Imagine you are walking in your city, a stranger approaches and starts asking you if you know about SBM. You look at him surprised, and tell him you’ve seen the posters around. He further asks if you have used google map to locate a public toilet near you or if you knew that public toilet locations are available on google maps. If your answer is no, then chances are that some of the marks and the rank that your city might have received as part of the SS, will see a fall. That stranger was an assessor of the SS and was sent to validate the progress that the city reported to GoI by directly asking the citizens. Since as a citizen you didn’t know about the public toilets that exist on google map, your city might rank lower than the city where its citizen knows about them due to the negative marking associated with the citizen feedback. And chances are that city government might have made an effort to add information about toilets on google maps.

What is Swachh Survekshan?

The Swachh Survekshan (SS) is a ranking of cities, on the degrees of cleanliness and usage of SBM activities by the cities. The goal of the ranking is to mobilise large scale citizen support and generate awareness among citizens about SBM and importance of keeping the cities clean. The survey also provides the city governments with an opportunity in ensuring that its citizens follow the Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules 2016. In addition, it also aims to cultivate a healthy competition among cities to improve their administration.                                                                                                            

Citizen Participation is a Critical Factor in this Survey

This year’s indicators for SS have scores for innovations led by citizens and their contribution to overall reduction in the solid waste generated by the city.  As part of a survey, 12 questions have been designed to validate the performance claims of city governments regarding citizen awareness about the SBM activities in the city.  These questions are asked directly to citizens. Independent assessors interact with citizens to verify the data submitted by the city governments on the 12 measures of service provision including waste collection, segregation, recycling & reuse, usage of plastic among others.

The table below shows the citizen validation questions and measures on how cities can raise awareness about their efforts to score better marks.

City governments need to connect with Citizens

Citizens are often unaware of the current efforts of city governments under SBM, or the implications of those efforts in terms of how much time and resources are spent, the difficulties faced, the successes achieved as well as how these efforts can help the citizens. The citizens do not get adequate information to understand the spirit, concept and the goal of SBM or the SS. This impacts the city government’s scores/ranks in a scenario where ranking high on the SS can help cities access more recognition and funds to further their goal of cleaning the city.  As noted in the SS2020 league, cities like Kolhapur and Khargone had scores of 1679.00 and 1768.00 respectively. But post citizen validation Khargone lost its rank as the citizen feedback did not support the data provided to GoI.

Some methods to connect citizens with city governments and help spread awareness about managing solid waste in their cities, and mobilise citizens to play an active role in keeping their cities clean are mentioned below:

1. Integrating Waste pickers for citizen feedback in SS2020

The waste pickers can be great messengers in ensuring that the citizens are aware about the correct methods to handle their waste including waste segregation at source. The waste pickers can educate the households on these methods and also share knowledge about the other aspects involved in the Swachh Bharat Mission. Additionally, ensuring that the waste pickers are integrated into the Swachh Nagar app allows citizens to request or complaint about the waste not being picked up.

2. Weekly Ward Meetings with Ward Councillor

Every locality or cluster of houses can interact with the ward councillor and organize a 30 minute workshop that can explain the benefits of segregation, the vital need to ensure that the city is recognized for it cleanliness and also explain in detail what exactly the swachh survekshan is and how it goes about.

3. Integrating NGOs

Numerous NGOs can educate the citizens through their campaigns and activities. The city governments may find it difficult to reach out to every citizen and hence they need to be instrumental in gathering all the stakeholders including the waste pickers. The city can organize an awareness generation campaign and call on all NGOs from different sectors. The NGOs can be assigned or requested to take up certain campaigns that can help in spreading awareness around the city. For e.g. an NGO involved in education can be encouraged educate the students about the correct waste management methods and urge them to talk about it at home and with other family members.

4. Activate Swachh Nagar App & Swacch Manch in the city 

The Swachh Manch is a social platform that allows citizens to get active in the SBM activities. It allows a citizen or a local authority or an NGO to organize an event for SWM. This aspect of bringing citizens to the Swachh Manch is also emphasised in the SS2020 and thus talking and educating the citizens about it is also vital to improve the scores of the city.

The Swachh Nagar App is a great tool to ensure timely collection of waste from the household by the waste pickers. It gives the citizens assurance that their waste will be collected and not be left unattended. It also allows for citizens to request for a pickup of their waste and also allows them to track the waste picker. Also, this is a good platform to gather citizen feedback for better and informed service delivery.

The fundamental objective of SBM and the Swachh Survekshan is to build a civic culture in cities and encourage  its residents to conduct their civic duties with pride. A good score in this ranking is premised on the basis of active collaboration and communication between the citizens and city governments. Social media and other traditional media channels have developed as platforms to connect with citizens  and must be utilized to promote state and city level campaigns that educate citizens about the objectives of the SBM, SS ranking, and the survey, as well as to reinforce the importance of their participation.

This ranking also acts as an opportunity to showcase a city’s achievement in SWM and allows the city to be an example. Besides, as a citizen of a city, the joy of seeing their city be acknowledged for their efforts is a fulfilling experience in itself.