NEW DELHI, October 8 — The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) on Thursday announced the annual cleanliness survey rankings under 'Swachh Survekshan 2026' at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, adjudging Indore (Madhya Pradesh) and Surat (Gujarat) as India's joint cleanest cities in the category of urban settlements exceeding 100,000 residents.
Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra secured the third position in the national metropolitan category. In overall state rankings, Maharashtra captured the first position, followed closely by Madhya Pradesh in second place and Chhattisgarh in third. Among urban centers with populations under 100,000, Saswad (Maharashtra) clinched top honors, while Varanasi and Prayagraj emerged as the leading clean cities situated along the Ganga river basin.
The 2026 evaluation cycle encompassed over 4,500 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) evaluated across parameters including door-to-door source segregation, mechanized desludging of sewer lines under the 'Safaimitra Surakshit Shehar' charter, legacy dumpsite bioremediation, and plastic waste recycling enforcement. More than 300 additional municipalities received 3-star and 5-star certifications under the Garbage Free City (GFC) star rating protocol.
Urban governance reforms under the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act (Twelfth Schedule), Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 (SBM-U 2.0) capital allocations, Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules 2016, and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 6 and SDG 11) are recurring subjects across UPSC Civil Services (GS-II & GS-III). Candidates should note that Swachh Survekshan represents the world's largest urban sanitation monitoring exercise, initiated in 2016 with 73 cities and now benchmarking thousands of local authorities nationwide.