Ratings for cities aims at achieving NUSP goals

The national rating for cities has been launched by the Government of India to achieve the goals of the National Urban Sanitation Policy (NUSP) which aims at making Indian cities and towns totally sanitized, healthy, and livable. This information was given by the Minister of Urban Development Kamal Nath in Lok Sabha. The first such exercise undertaken during 2009-2010 with publication of results in May 2010 rated 423 cities (with population greater than 100,000) for their performance across various aspects of sanitation. The Ministry of Urban Development acts as a facilitator in framing broad policies, programmes and guidelines on Urban Sanitation. The central government supplements the efforts of state governments or Union Territories in providing sanitation facilities through various schemes, the minister said. In order to supplement the effort of state governments, the Ministry of Urban Development launched Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) in 2005 with a view to provide financial assistance for creating infrastructure facilities in all the urban areas of the country including sanitation with a reform oriented agenda, she added.