Droupadi Murmu Honours India’s Cleanest Cities at Swachh Survekshan Awards 2025-26

Droupadi Murmu Honours India’s Cleanest Cities: President Droupadi Murmu handed out the Swachh Survekshan Awards 2025-26 on Wednesday at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. The Department of Urban Development (DoUD), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), presented the awards. Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal and Minister of State Tokhan Sahu were also present.

Droupadi Murmu Honours India’s Cleanest Cities | President Stresses on Involvement of Citizens

The MoHFW handed out 60 National Awards in the various Swachh Shehar categories (Swachh Shehar Jodi, Super Swachh League, Swachh Shehar for 5 population groups, Swachh River Front Town, Swachh Coastal Town, Clean Himalayan City and State First Swachh City). President Murmu stressed that clean cities require the participation of all of us, not just one organisation.

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President Murmu Presents Swachh Survekshan Awards, Lauds Sanitation Workers, Priorities Citizen Feedback

Droupadi Murmu Honours India’s Cleanest Cities: President Murmu stressed the need to involve citizens, change behaviour, be accountable, and keep the public engaged. The President spoke of the importance of teaching children about cleanliness from an early age and suggested including topics such as plastic waste in the school curriculum. She lauded the sanitation workers and said that citizen feedback is important. She also mentioned the Swachh Shehar Jodi initiative, which helps cities share ideas and work together to improve cleanliness.

Swachh Bharat Mission Has Become a Movement Across the Country, Says Union Minister Manohar Lal

Union Minister Manohar Lal said the Swachh Bharat Mission, under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, has become a movement across the country, improved urban sanitation, and brought in the participation of a huge number of citizens. Urban waste processing has risen from 16% in 2014 to 80%, and door-to-door collection is now over 96% (up from 44% in 2014).

Old waste dumpsites have been cleared, freeing up nearly 11,000 acres of urban land for new use. Swachh Survekshan has grown from 73 cities in 2016 to 4,751 cities in 2025-26. Approximately 2.70 crore citizens gave their feedback in this year's Swachh Survekshan. Over 1,700 smaller cities improved their rankings, and over 350 cities moved up by more than 500 places.

He encouraged states to hold their own Swachh Survekshan competitions to promote healthy competition among urban local bodies, particularly smaller towns, and to raise sanitation standards. Manohar Lal said nearly 2.10 crore citizens participated in Swachhata Hi Seva 2026. Over 17 lakh Safai Mitras have benefited from over 33,000 special camps, and nearly 4 lakh children have joined the Gyan Yatras.

Top Clean Cities in India | Union Minister Manohar Lal Congratulates Awardees, Reiterates Government’s Commitment for Cleanliness

Droupadi Murmu Honours India’s Cleanest Cities: Through the Swachh Shehar Jodi scheme, 70 mentor cities are being paired with 191 mentee cities to share their experience and knowledge and improve sanitation in the smaller cities. Special awards have been given to riverfront towns, coastal towns, Himalayan towns, and five population categories.

The minister congratulated the awardees and reiterated the government's commitment to making cleanliness a key feature of urban life and achieving the vision of a Swachh and Viksit Bharat. Secretary of the Department of Urban Development Satendra Singh said that over the past decade, Swachh Survekshan has been a very effective tool for assessing and improving the quality of urban sanitation services, and the results have been real. He said it is an impressive effort by citizens across the country as they work toward a clean India, and that the survey is, in fact, the voice of millions.

Swachh Survekshan Award-Winning Cities: Top Cities in the List

Droupadi Murmu Honours India’s Cleanest Cities: Here’s a brief review of the India’s cleanest cities 2025-26 organised under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). Let’s begin with:

Top 3 Cleanest City Pairs

The Swachh Shehar Jodi (SSJ) initiative motivates other cities by sharing knowledge with those that have excelled in sanitation. The rankings of the cleanest cities in India award list (mentor and mentee cities) above were based on a combined score, from 2024-25 survey. Now let’s move on to the other categories below.

Top 3 Cities in Super Swachh League

Top Cleanest Cities (Swachh Sheher) in Million Plus Population Category

Cleanest Cities in Himalayan Region

Towns with Cleanest Rivers & Water Sources

Towns with Cleanest Coastal Areas

Why Was Delhi Absent from the List?

The reason India’s capital is missing from the top list is a major concern: a poor AQI, currently recorded at 562 (up from 402), indicating hazardous conditions. However, the city was not completely ousted from the list, since a part of it, NDMC (New Delhi Municipal Council), which monitors Lutyens Delhi and central areas, earned 2nd position nationally in the Clean City category for cities with a population between 50,000 and 3 lakhs.

It was highly regarded for its 100 per cent waste processing, integration of informal waste pickers, and mechanised night-time sweeping. Compared with NDMC, MCD missed out because most of Delhi's population failed to secure a place among the top-ranked cities, while Lucknow, Jabalpur, and Visakhapatnam ranked in the top three.

The recent Swachh Survekshan survey of cleanest cities evaluates cities across key indicators like solid waste management, visible cleanliness (not ambient AQI), and sanitation infrastructure.

President Murmu Speech on Cleanliness

President Droupadi Murmu said that keeping the country clean is not something that any one institution can do on its own. She made it clear that all of us—citizens, families, communities, and cities—need to do it. In her address following the presentation of the Swachh Survekshan Awards 2025-26 in New Delhi this evening, she said cleanliness is about more than just clean streets. It is about health, social awareness, and the administration's responsibility. She said cleanliness starts at home, with our daily habits.

The President did point out that the Swachh Shehar Jodi initiative has led to greater collaboration this year in the Swachh Survekshan. She said that when a city with a good cleanliness record helps another city to improve, the impact is far greater. President Murmu also mentioned that with the help of CSIR, the Swachh Bharat Test Bed and Innovation Centre have now opened in West Bengal to support training and innovation in sanitation. She described this as a significant step and spoke about the need for sanitation technologies that are effective, affordable and safe.

The President said these technologies should also be applicable to smaller cities. She pointed out that over the past 10 years, the Swachhata Abhiyan has done a tremendous job of creating public awareness, public participation, and healthy competition across the country. President Murmu said she hopes that, with the support of all of us, the next Swachh Survekshan will turn that 10-year journey into science-based results.

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