President Draupadi Murmu presenting the awards at Swachh Bharat Diwas event in New Delhi on Sunday.PTI-

Telangana was ranked first for the cleanliness of its villages in the Swachh Survekshan Gramin (SSG), 2022, which looked into the sanitation status of rural areas. After Telangana, Haryana was placed second followed by Tamil Nadu in the Large States category.

The Swachh Survekshan Gramin, 2022 award ranks States and districts on the basis of their performance attained on Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin (SBM-G) parameters and engagement of the rural community in improvement of their sanitation status. Among smaller States and Union Territories, Andaman and Nicobar secured the first position, followed by Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Sikkim.

“Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin is a movement to bring in behavioural change in our populace. The use of toilets, the habit of washing hands with soap and having water supply through taps acted as a shield for the country during the pandemic,” said President Droupadi Murmu, while giving away the awards.

Ms. Murmu noted that since the launch of SBM-G in 2014, over 11 crore toilets had been built and about 60 crore people had given up open defecation. The second phase of the mission, launched in 2020, aims to make all six lakh villages in India ‘Open Defecation Free Plus’, she said. “Having achieved success against open defecation, we now have to address more complex and technical problems like solid and liquid waste management,” she added.

Having achieved success against open defecation, we now have to address more complex and technical problems like solid and liquid waste management

Droupadi Murmu

President of India

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