Close to two years after the launch of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in October 2014, Sikkim has emerged on top, while Bihar has been placed at the bottom among States in the rankings for coverage of Swachh Bharat (Rural).

As per the rankings of the 75 selected districts, released by the Rural Development Ministry here on Thursday, Sikkim (West) and Himachal Pradesh (Mandi) are top performers in 22 hilly districts, while Papum Pare and Anjaw in Arunachal Pradesh are the poorest performers. wAmong the 53 districts in the plains, Sindhudurg (Maharashtra) and Nadia (West Bengal) are on top, while Gujarat’s Panchmahal and Rajasthan’s Dungarpur are at the bottom.

To instil competitiveness



Releasing the survey, Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the rankings were being done to assess the outcomes in States and districts and “instil positive competitiveness amongst them towards cleanliness”.

Among the other top performing States are Himachal Pradesh (97.11 per cent coverage) and Kerala (96.35 per cent), while Odisha (32.79 per cent), Jammu & Kashmir (33.35 per cent) and Jharkhand (40.52 per cent) are the poor performers.

Incidentally, the Ministry’s latest programme data showBihar’s rural coverage at only 25.16 per cent, which is lower than 31.6 per cent coverage shown by the National Sample Survey in June 2015.

When asked about the discrepancy, a senior Ministry official said the latest figures were based on programme data reported by States based only on coverage, while the NSSO data pertained to coverage and usage, with an error margin.

The Swachh Sarvekshan (Gramin) or Cleanliness Index for India (Rural), conducted by the Quality Council of India, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and FICCI, was done in June-July 2016 and covered 400 households in hilly districts and 1,080 households in districts located in the plains.

The rankings measured States and the 75 districts (selected on the basis of some villages being declared open defecation free) on the percentage of households that have access to toilets and usage, have no litter and waste water around and cleanliness around public places, such as schools, temples and hospitals.