Check the 'swachhata' of your neighbourhood with SwachhApp

Developed by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, the application promises to show the cleanliness status of any village using a rating system

New Delhi: Keen on its flagship programme 'Swachch Bharat', the Centre has come up with an innovative mobile app to help citizens to measure the parameters of cleanliness from their neighbourhood to elsewhere. The move will also instill a sense of competition towards cleanliness among villages, gram panchayats, blocks, districts and the states.

The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation has developed the mobile application 'SwachhApp' to measure cleanliness in the villages. It can be used to view 'Swachhata' status and rate the cleanliness of any village.

A detailed statistical analysis was made to determine the geographical factors necessary for measuring cleanliness. "This analysis was based on a large survey involving over 70,000 households in 75 districts of the country. Based on the analysis, the ministry defined cleanliness index and SLWM index," said a Ministry official.

The four major factors identified are percentage of households having access to safe toilets, percentage of houses with clean premises, percentage of public places without litter and percentage of houses having no wastewater stagnation around them. Cleanliness index capture overall cleanliness of the village and environment.

While the Ministry has been mandated with the Swachch Bharat project, all other ministries and departments of Central government have launched a full-scale campaign for cleanliness. Two years ago Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated the 'Swachch Bharat' programme, followed by several innovative steps by government and corporate to carry forward the initiative.

The official said that the Ministry has now realised that a sense of competition was necessary and the Centre may later introduce awards to boost the morale of people and generate greater awareness in the country.

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