GoI: Star Rating of Garbage Free Cities Released

On May 19, 2020, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs released star rating of garbage free cities for the year 2019-20.

Highlights

Around 5 cities were given 5-star rating. This includes Ambikapur, Surat, Rajkot, Mysuru, Indore and Navi Mumbai. The ministry had given 3-star rating to 65 cities and 1-star rating to 70 cities.

About the rating

The rating system was launched by the Ministry in 2018. This was launched to provide a mechanism to achieve Garbage free status. Also, such a rating system will motivate cities to achieve higher cleanliness. The rating mainly focuses on solid waste management

Significance

The importance of effective solid waste management and sanitation has been brought to the forefront by the COVID-19 crisis. The solid waste management has been included in the second phase of Swachh Bharat Mission as well.

Apart from this, GoI launched Swachh Survekshan to survey cleanliness of the country. The Swachh Survekshan ranked the cities based on their cleanliness. However, in the ranking system despite of their good performance some cities could not be recognized properly. Thus, the rating protocol was launched.

COVID-19

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has provided health checkups, PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and also payment of regular wages to sanitation workers.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2020