Swachh Survekshan Explained

On 11 November 2026, President Droupadi Murmu presented the Swachh Survekshan 2025-26 awards at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi — 60 national awards in all. Navi Mumbai topped the Super Swachh League and Greater Visakhapatnam was the cleanest city with over 10 lakh people. Here are the winners first, then how the survey works.

Swachh Survekshan 2025-26 winners

Category	1st	2nd	3rd
Super Swachh League (past toppers)	Navi Mumbai (Maharashtra)	Surat (Gujarat)	Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh)
Population above 10 lakh	Greater Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh)	Jabalpur (MP)	Lucknow (UP)
Population 3–10 lakh*	Ujjain (MP)	Chandigarh	Guntur (Andhra Pradesh)
Population 50,000–3 lakh*	Dewas (MP)	New Delhi Municipal Council	Sagar (MP)
Population 20,000–50,000*	Bilha (Chhattisgarh)	Panchgani (Maharashtra)	Budhni (MP)
Swachh Shehar Jodi (mentor–mentee)	Ahmedabad–Sanand	Indore–Depalpur	Tirupati–Kuppam
Swachh River Front Town (new)	Rewa (MP)	Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh)	Varanasi (UP)
Swachh Coastal Town (new)	Puri (Odisha)	Alappuzha (Kerala)	Ratnagiri (Maharashtra)
Clean Himalayan City (new)	Rudrapur (Uttarakhand)	Jammu (J&K)	Shopian (J&K)

*Ranks in these population categories are as reported by The Indian Express and Hindustan; the MoHUA/DD News release lists the other categories. Verify on sbmurban.org before quoting in an exam.

State First Swachh City awards went to 30 cities across States and UTs.

Five things to note

1. Indore, India’s cleanest city for eight straight editions, appears this time in the Swachh Shehar Jodi list (2nd, with Depalpur).
2. Three new categories debuted: River Front Town (Rewa), Coastal Town (Puri) and Clean Himalayan City (Rudrapur).
3. Madhya Pradesh cities feature across many categories: Jabalpur, Ujjain, Dewas, Sagar, Budhni and Rewa.
4. About 2.7 crore citizens gave feedback; 350+ urban local bodies rose by more than 500 ranks.
5. The President suggested plastic waste management be taught in school curricula.

What it is

• An annual urban cleanliness survey run by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) under Swachh Bharat Mission–Urban (SBM-U).
• Started in 2016 with 73 cities. The 2025-26 round, the 10th edition, covers over 4,751 cities.
• 2025-26 theme: ‘Swachhata Ki Nayi Pehel – Badhayein Haath, Karein Safai Saath’.

How cities are scored

Urban local bodies are assessed on 43 indicators across 10 areas:

1. Waste segregation
2. Collection and transportation
3. Solid waste processing
4. Visible cleanliness
5. Access to sanitation
6. Mechanised desludging
7. Institutional strengthening
8. Used water management
9. Sanitation awareness and sanitation workers’ welfare
10. Citizen feedback and grievance redressal

Over 3,000 assessors did field checks with GPS-enabled real-time monitoring, and evidence was verified digitally.

What is new in 2025-26

• Riverfronts, coastlines and water bodies are now covered.
• Specific indicators on open defecation and open urination.
• More focus on tourist and heritage sites, and on behaviour change in schools.
• Swachh Shehar Jodi: 70 mentor cities paired with 191 mentee cities across 33 States/UTs (launched 27 September 2025). Mentee cities raised door-to-door collection from 52% to 74% and visible cleanliness from 48% to 70%.

Past results students should know

• Indore (Madhya Pradesh) topped the cleanest-city ranking every year from 2017 to the 2023 survey (sharing the top spot with Surat in 2023), and then led the new Super Swachh League in 2024-25 — eight straight editions.
• In Swachh Survekshan 2024-25, a separate Super Swachh League was created for consistent top performers such as Indore, Surat and Navi Mumbai. That year Ahmedabad ranked first among the remaining cities with over 10 lakh population. Verify on sbmurban.org before quoting it in an exam.

Linked facts

Item	Fact
Swachh Bharat Mission	Launched 2 October 2014
SBM-Urban 2.0	Launched October 2021, focused on “Garbage Free Cities”
Star rating protocol	Garbage Free City (GFC) star ratings; ODF, ODF+, ODF++ and Water+ certifications

Likely MCQs

1. Swachh Survekshan is conducted by — MoHUA.
2. Year Swachh Survekshan began — 2016 (73 cities).
3. Number of indicators in 2025-26 — 43.
4. Super Swachh League 2025-26 topper — Navi Mumbai.
5. Cleanest city above 10 lakh population, 2025-26 — Greater Visakhapatnam.
6. Cleanest coastal town, 2025-26 — Puri (Odisha).
7. Name of the mentor–mentee city initiative — Swachh Shehar Jodi.

Updated on 12 November 2026 with the 2025-26 winners announced on 11 November.

EkoDemy Editorial Team. Facts checked against official releases as of 12 November 2026; confirm volatile figures on the official site before your exam.