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Lessons from Swachh Vayu Survekshan 2025
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Indore, already India’s “cleanliness capital,” has added another feather to its cap by topping the Swachh Vayu Survekshan (SVS) 2025, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change’s (MoEFCC) annual air quality ranking exercise. This recognition comes even as the city recorded a marginal rise in PM10 levels, underscoring that sustained policy focus and community participation can override short-term fluctuations.
What is Swachh Vayu Survekshan?
• Origin & purpose: Instituted under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), SVS is an annual evaluation of 130 Indian cities.
• Approach: It follows a multi-tiered assessment covering technical due diligence, measurable pollution reduction and citizen awareness.
• Objective: To foster healthy competition among cities and accelerate actions for air quality improvement.
The parameters of assessment
SVS measures city performance across eight indicators, including:
• Road dust suppression
• Solid waste management
• Control of vehicular and industrial emissions
• Handling of construction & demolition waste
• Public awareness campaigns
• Tangible reductions in PM10 and PM2.5
This makes the survey not just a pollution index but a policy compliance and governance test.
Key results of 2025 survey
Million-plus cities category
• Rank 1: Indore
• Rank 2 & 3: Jabalpur, Agra/Surat
• Other top performers: Navi Mumbai (4), Kanpur (5), Bhopal (6), Prayagraj (7), Chandigarh (8).
• Major Metros: Hyderabad (22), Mumbai (25), Jaipur (26), Delhi (32), Bengaluru (36), Kolkata (38), Chennai (41).
3-10 lakh population category
• Rank 1: Amravati
• Rank 2: Jhansi & Moradabad (joint)
• Rank 3: Alwar
Under 3 lakh population category
• Rank 1: Dewas (Madhya Pradesh)
• Rank 2: Parwanoo (Himachal Pradesh)
• Rank 3: Angul (Odisha)
Trends in air pollution reduction
• PM10 decline: 103 out of 130 cities registered lower levels.
• Metros’ Performance:
Mumbai: 44% decline (highest among metros)
Kolkata: 37%
Hyderabad & Bengaluru: 26% each
Delhi: 15%
Chennai: 12%
• Meeting standards: 22 cities achieved the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) benchmark of
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