Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar Launches Swachh Shehar Jodi Initiative under Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban in Sonipat, Haryana.

In September 2025, Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), launched the ‘Swachh Shehar Jodi (SSJ)’ initiative during a special event in Sonipat, Haryana. The scheme establishes a structured mentorship framework in urban waste management.

      - The Swachh Shehar Jodi (SSJ) initiative aims to promote knowledge sharing, peer learning, and adoption of best practices in sanitation and waste management across Indian cities, strengthening the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U).

      - SSJ covers 72 mentor cities and nearly 200 mentee cities across India. It is recognized as one of the largest time-bound and collaborative action programmes in the country’s urban waste management sector.

Main Point :-   (i) Top-performing cities in the Swachh Survekshan (SS) rankings were designated as mentor cities and paired with low-performing mentee cities to bridge performance gaps and foster improvement.

      (ii) Cities ranked 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in Swachh Survekshan (SS) 2022, 2023, and 2024 across five population categories were inducted into the “Super Swachh League (SSL),” introduced in SS 2024–25, and chosen to mentor weaker cities.

About Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA)