From “Garbage-Free” to “Great-to-Be” — why India’s urban cleanliness vision must evolve

Neural City Team
Aug 13
4 min read

Over the past decade, Swachh Bharat Mission–Urban has done the hard things first: end open defecation, professionalise waste collection, expand processing, and bring data discipline to a sector long starved of it. Those choices raised the floor for urban dignity and health. That success is real and worth celebrating.

But India’s cities are now competing for talent, investment, and visitors. The next leap isn’t only about tonnage processed—it’s about how cleanliness feels on a Tuesday morning in a market lane, at a riverfront ghat after a festival, or inside a public toilet when a mother walks in with a child. It’s also about who makes that experience possible: the sanitation workers, supervisors, and plant operators who fight this daily war against grime.

Time to Shift Gear

Achievements so Far

Coverage and systems: By 2024, 97% of urban wards had 100% door-to-door waste collection and 90% reported source segregation, with MSW processing rising to ~78.5%—a dramatic jump from the pre-Mission era.
Infrastructure build-out: Urban India has added millions of household toilets and hundreds of thousands of public/community toilets; targeted campaigns (e.g., Clean Toilets 2024) upgraded 70,000+ CT/PT blocks.
Used-water now in scope: SBM-U 2.0 mainstreamed used-water management alongside faecal sludge/septage, with ongoing capacity creation under allied schemes.

These were the right first moves. They should continue. But they are means, not the end.

SBM-U’s current articulation focuses—by design—on capacity and compliance (assets, coverage, processing, protocols). That was exactly right to raise the floor. The next decade’s opportunity is to raise the ceiling: move from garbage-free as a technical state to “great-to-be” as a daily, felt reality.

Why the vision should step up now

India’s cities compete for talent, investment, and visitors. Our foreign tourist arrivals were ~9.95 million in 2024—recovering, but modest beside destinations that anchor their value proposition in immaculate, predictable urban experience (Dubai 18.72 million in 2024; Singapore 16.5 million). Cleanliness isn’t the only driver of tourism, but it shapes first impressions everywhere: at stations and airports, on footpaths and riverfronts, in markets and public toilets.

Quality of life: Residents judge their city by what they see, smell, and touch.
Tourism & economy: Gateway cleanliness, toilet confidence, and litter-free public realms convert into stays, spends, and reputation.
Workforce dignity: When sanitation is treated as a skilled, upwardly mobile career, cities retain talent and deliver reliably.

What an experience-first vision looks like

Think like a resident, a commuter, a caregiver, a tourist—and design for what they actually feel.

Visible cleanliness everywhere, consistently. Not just the absence of dumpsites, but litter-free streets and back lanes, clean drains and ghats, and welcoming parks and markets—every day, not just pre-survey.
Dignified, safe toilets. Privacy and safety matter as much as tiles and odour control—especially for women, children, seniors, and persons with disabilities.
Tourist-node excellence. Gateways (air/rail/bus), heritage precincts, and high-footfall corridors should meet the same bar as global peers—because they set the tone for the whole city.
Evidence people can see. Publish simple, ward-level cleanliness and toilet-experience dashboards that residents recognise and use.

This isn’t a detour from capacity; it’s capacity with purpose. Plants, fleets, FSTPs and STPs remain essential—because they enable the street-level experience we’re promising.

The missing lens: The People

Cleanliness is delivered by people. If their work is unsafe, under-equipped, or capped at dead-end roles, the public experience will always be fragile. A modern vision must treat sanitation as a frontline profession—like fire, health, or policing—with comparable emphasis on gear, training, and growth.

What that implies:

Zero-harm as non-negotiable: full PPE for all tasks (respiratory, eye, hand, foot, and dermal protection), vaccinations, fatigue management, and elimination of hazardous manual entry.
Career pathways: There needs to be clear pathway for a sweeper to become a machine operator, crew lead, area supervisor, MRF/Biomethanation/STP shift in-charge, and eventually city sanitation manager—with modular certifications, pay bands, and recognition tied to skills. This can be wishful thinking on our part but we have to aim for sky if we dream to fly.
Mechanisation first: compact sweepers, suction/jetting, robotic nozzles, and sludge-handling tech that take humans out of danger.
Dignity & inclusion: gender-safe facilities, fair rostering, insurance and pensions, and strong grievance redressal.
A Response teams, not just routines: along with daily sweeping, cities field high-visibility, fully geared “cleanliness response units” for spillovers, festivals, and flood-borne debris—professional, proud, and public-facing.

A refreshed North Star (Proposed)

Mission: Deliver a world-class cleanliness experience for every resident and visitor—safe, dignified, visibly clean public spaces—enabled by zero-harm, professional sanitation services and circular waste/used-water systems, verified through open, citizen-centred measurement.

Vision: By 2035, Indian cities are globally recognised for spotless, welcoming streets and facilities. Sanitation work is a respected, high-skill profession with clear progression, comprehensive safety and welfare, and zero tolerance for hazardous manual practices—cleanliness powering quality of life, dignity of work, and urban economic returns.