NEW DELHI: Top-performing cities in the Swachh Survekshan rankings will guide cities that have been unable to achieve desired success under Swachh Survekshan, an annual urban sanitation and cleanliness survey.
The survey was conducted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). For the Swachh Shehar Jodi (SSJ) initiative -- a structured mentorship and collaborative action programme, the ministry has identified 72 mentors and over 200 mentee cities.
Implemented under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U), Union Minister Manohar Lal rolled out the SSJ initiative on Saturday. The SSJ initiative represents one of the largest time-bound and structured mentorship frameworks in the urban waste management sector, aiming to foster knowledge and experience sharing, peer learning and transforming best practices in sanitation and waste management across urban India, said ministry officials.
Across successive editions of Swachh Survekshan—the world’s largest urban sanitation survey—several cities have consistently demonstrated exceptional performance, high citizen engagement, and resilient governance despite leadership and operational challenges.
This has prompted ongoing discussions on scaling and replicating best practices in other cities. On this line, the Super Swachh League was introduced in this year’s Swachh Survekshan (SS).
Cities that ranked top three positions in the SS ranking in 2022, 2023, and 2024 were included as top performers across five population categories and were inducted in the league.
The idea was to encourage top-performing cities to strive for higher aspirational standards, while also motivating other cities to improve and aim for top ranks
“The mentor cities are the top-performing cities that are part of the Super Swachh League, top three cities that are featured across population categories in SS 2024 and promising clean cities that emerged across States/UTs as part of SS 2024. Mentee cities were chosen from the lowest ranks in their State’s latest SS cumulative rankings, considering their geographical proximity to their paired mentor cities,” said officials.
Speaking at the launch of the initiative in Sonepat in Haryana, Manohar Lal emphasised the spirit of Antyodaya—where no city is left behind, and every city benefits from the collective knowledge pool of the Mission.
“The spirit of Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), has always focused on building capacity and capabilities for all stakeholders -- an inclusive Mission, where all walk together. SSJ is not just a ceremonial partnership - it is a time-bound and outcome-driven initiative. It is among the largest structured and time-bound mentorship arrangements in the urban waste management sector,” he said.
Joining the session virtually, Secretary MoHUA S Katikithala said, “SSJ is a dynamic platform for knowledge-sharing, mentoring, and handholding. The aim is clear that every mentee city should improve their swachhata outcome by learning from the best cities.”
On August 26, MoHUA had released guidelines for the SSJ initiative, officially pairing mentor and mentee cities.
The mentee cities will get direct exposure to well performing cities to replicate their best practices. The Ministry has launched a 100-day program to showcase the impact of city-to-city mentorship in driving urban transformation.
During this period, each mentor-mentee pair will collaboratively develop action plans with clearly defined milestones, focusing on experience sharing and knowledge transfer.
MoHUA will provide strategic direction and policy-level support to ensure effective implementation of the Swachh Shehar Jodi across States. This is being supported under the capacity-building initiative of the SBM.
Nearly 300 MoUs were signed simultaneously across the nation in the presence of all participating cities and their political executive heads, marking the beginning of a 100-day phase of creating a dynamic platform for knowledge-sharing, mentoring, and handholding, which will be evaluated in Swachh Survekshan 2026.