Key points
- President Droupadi Murmu will confer the 10th Swachh Survekshan awards at Vigyan Bhawan on November 11.
- The survey has grown from 73 urban bodies in 2016 to more than 4,751 cities this year.
- Karnal says it has been picked for the President's Award, given to the top three cities.
President Droupadi Murmu will confer the 10th Swachh Survekshan awards on Wednesday, November 11, 2026, at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, when the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry names the cleanest cities of the 2025-26 survey. Union Minister Manohar Lal and Minister of State Tokhan Sahu will attend. The ministry has not said at what hour the ceremony starts.
The survey, run under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban, has grown from 73 urban local bodies in 2016 to more than 4,751 cities in this edition. This year’s theme is “Swachhata Ki Nayi Pehel, Badhayein Haath, Karein Safai Saath”. The winners are not public yet; the ministry says they will be announced at the ceremony.
How the cities were scored
Each city was marked on 43 indicators across 10 areas. These include waste segregation and solid waste management, visible cleanliness, access to sanitation, mechanised desludging, used water management, advocacy for cleanliness, sanitation worker welfare, and citizen feedback and grievance redressal.
More than 3,000 trained assessors checked conditions on the ground, with real-time GPS monitoring of their visits. The ministry says the new edition gives more weight to citizen feedback and adds indicators on preventing open defecation and open urination, keeping tourist and heritage sites clean, and changing behaviour in schools.
What the mentoring scheme shows
The release also reports on Swachh Shehar Jodi, a programme that paired 70 mentor cities with 191 mentee cities across 33 states and Union Territories. Manohar Lal launched it on September 27, 2025. Top performers of the pairing will be honoured on Wednesday.
By the ministry’s figures, the mentee cities improved on every measure between Swachh Survekshan 2024 and 2025-26. Visible cleanliness rose from 48% to 70%, door-to-door collection from 52% to 74% and source segregation of waste from 16% to 30%. Access to sanitation went from 11% to 38%, used water management from 32% to 53% and advocacy for cleanliness from 48% to 66%.
Source segregation, the step on which processing and recycling depend, is the weakest of the six even after the gain: 30% of the mentee cities’ measure, against 74% for door-to-door collection.
One city already claims a place
Karnal in Haryana says it has been selected for the President’s Award, which officials describe as going only to the top three cleanest cities. The city also received the award last year for third place. The report does not give Karnal’s exact position or its score.
“It is a proud moment for the city as it has been selected for a prestigious award for cleanliness,” Mayor Renu Bala Gupta said. Municipal Commissioner Saloni Sharma called it “a historic moment for Karnal”, and Additional Municipal Commissioner Ashok Kumar said: “Now, we are among the top three cities in the country, which is a major achievement.”
Why it matters
The survey measures services residents use every day: garbage collection, toilets, sewage and used water handling, and how quickly complaints are answered. The ministry’s own figures show where the gaps were widest among the mentee cities, with only 30% source segregation and 38% access to sanitation even after this year’s gains. The extra weight on citizen feedback means residents’ complaints now count for more in each city’s marks.
What happens next
The President confers the awards on Wednesday, November 11, at Vigyan Bhawan, and the full list of winners, with the top three cities, will be known then. The ministry has not said whether city-wise scores will be published the same day.