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President Droupadi Murmu presented the Swachh Survekshan Awards 2025-26 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, on 11 November 2026; Lucknow ranked among the top three million-plus cities.
Why is Swachh Survekshan 2025-26 in the news?
- 11 November 2026: the President presented the awards at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, in an event organised by the Department of Urban Development (DoUD) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
- Three new categories were awarded for the first time: Swachh river-bank city, Swachh coastal city and Swachh Himalayan city.
- According to the Ministry, 350 or more urban local bodies improved their rank by more than 500 places.
What are the key results?
| Category | Top performers |
|---|---|
| Super Swachh League (top 3) | Navi Mumbai, Surat, Vijayawada |
| Million-plus population (top 3) | Visakhapatnam, Jabalpur, Lucknow |
| Swachh Shehar Jodi (top 3 pairs) | Ahmedabad-Sanand, Indore-Depalpur, Tirupati-Kuppam |
| Population categories | Five categories |
| Cities surveyed in 2025-26 | 4,751 |
| Citizen feedback this year | 2.70 crore |
The Jodi pairs link a mentor city, a 2024-25 award winner, with a mentee city, and are ranked on the pair's combined score. The Ministry says 70 mentor cities are paired with 191 mentee cities.
Small towns led the change: more than 1,700 urban local bodies with a population below 50,000 improved their ranking over 2024-25.
How does this link to the static topic?
- The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is the national urban and rural sanitation mission under which the survey is run.
- The survey began in 2016 with 73 cities and reached 4,751 cities in 2025-26.
- The Union Minister said urban waste processing rose from 16% to 80% since 2014, and door-to-door collection from 44% to over 96%.
- Clearing legacy waste dumps freed about 11,000 acres of urban land, according to the Minister.
- Under the Pragati-50 initiative, 50 cities are to be developed as model clean cities.
How the survey cycle works
Citizen feedback City assessment Ranking Awards Peer learning through Jodi
What is the Uttar Pradesh angle?
Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, is one of the top three clean cities in the million-plus population category, after Visakhapatnam and Jabalpur, according to the release. Other Uttar Pradesh city rankings are outside the official text used for this item. For GS-V, link this to urban local body governance and sanitation services in the state. For GS-VI, link it to waste management and environment.
Likely confusions
- Swachh Survekshan is not the same as Swachh Bharat Abhiyan: the survey is the ranking exercise, the Abhiyan is the mission.
- Swachh Shehar Jodi awards pairs of cities, not single cities.
- Super Swachh League is a separate list from the million-plus category.
Key Terms
- Swachh Survekshan
- Annual national survey that ranks cities on cleanliness.
- Swachh Shehar Jodi
- Pairing of a mentor city with a mentee city to share good practice.
- Super Swachh League
- A league of top-performing clean cities in the survey.
- Urban local body (ULB)
- A municipal body that runs a city or town.
- Pragati-50
- Initiative to develop 50 model clean cities using technology and monitoring.
UPPSC syllabus: GS-II, GS-III
FAQs
Who presented the Swachh Survekshan Awards 2025-26?
The President of India, Droupadi Murmu, presented them at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
Which are the top million-plus cities?
Visakhapatnam, Jabalpur and Lucknow, according to the Ministry release.
Sources: Swachh Survekshan Awards 2025-26, PIB, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
Last verified: 2026-11-13
