Swachh Shehar Jodi
Also called: SSJ · Topic: Urban Local Government: Municipalities and Cities · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Swachh Shehar Jodi (SSJ) is a mentorship scheme under Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0, run by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). "Jodi" means "pair". A city that does well at waste management (the mentor) is paired with a weaker city (the mentee), and the two sign a Memorandum of Understanding (a written agreement to work together). It follows the idea of "Each One – Teach One". Pairs are chosen using the Swachh Survekshan 2024-25 rankings. A Jodi is ranked on the combined score of both cities, and only each mentor's best-performing Jodi is counted. It matters because help now passes from one city to another, not only down from the Centre. This is an example of cooperative federalism, where governments work together.
Example
Union Minister Manohar Lal launched SSJ on 27 September 2025. It covers 70 mentor cities and about 191 mentee cities across 33 States/UTs. The first SSJ awards were given in Swachh Survekshan 2025-26, its 10th edition, in November 2026.
Don't confuse with
- Swachh Survekshan: this is MoHUA's yearly survey that ranks cities on cleanliness. SSJ is not a survey. It is a mentorship programme that uses Survekshan rankings and is judged through them.
- Top 3 Clean Cities award: this is a different award category. Cities that win under SSJ are left out of it, so one city cannot collect both prizes.