While Deogarh district tops the list of Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin (SBM-G) in Odisha, Balangir district is at the lowest position so far as the ranking on performance is concerned.
Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MoDWS) Secretary Parameswaran Iyer has informed the State Government in this regard.
In order to promote SBM-G, the Union Government is also launching District Swachhata Darpan, an initiative to rank all the districts in India based on key parameters of Performance, Sustainability and Transparency.
Deogarh is first, Baleswar second and Jagatsinghpur third in the list of SMB-G. Most literate districts like Puri and Khordha have been listed at 16th and 18th districts of Odisha on SBM-G and Cuttack has got 29th position out of the 30 districts.
In national ranking, Deogarh stands at the 170th position while Balangir stands at the 660th level.
Iyer has said that in order to encourage districts to improve Swachh Bharat Mission SBM-G progress in the districts, the MoDWS has done the ranking of all districts in the country.
Each district is ranked on quarterly basis. As on August 4, 2017, Deogarh stands first while Balangir is the lowest in the ladder.
Indicator focusses on individual household latrine (IHHl) coverage and open defecation-free (ODF) status, which is the hallmark of performance. Similarly is the conversion of dysfunctional toilets and insanitary toilets in the districts.
Iyer said sustainability of the programme depends significantly on behaviour change, fund utilisation and number of Swachhagrahis on the ground. Transparency adopted in SBM-G is also considered as a criterion for ranking. Aadhaar mapping is also considered for the purpose.
As a further ranking would be finalised after two months, the districts are to take advantage to enhance their progress on key parameters on the Management Information System (MIS) said Iyer.