Karnataka state has got the first position both with regard to the cleanest city in the country, out of 476  cities,  as also the cleanest state capital. Mysuru and Bengaluru are the cities respectively. It has also got two other cities, viz. Hassan and Mandya included in the first 10 cleanest cities. Congratulations for the people of Karnataka for this rare distinction.

The first ten cleanest cities include Tiruchirappally, (T.Nadu), Navi Mumbai, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram(Kerala), Halisahar(W.Bengal) and Gangtok (Sikkim).

These rankings are based on the extent of open defecation and solid waste management practices in these cities.

But compared to the cities in UK, Europe etc. we are still far behind. We have yet to see whether the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan will have some major effect on the cleanliness in the nation. The old saying is ” Cleanliness is next to godliness”, which shows the importance given to cleanliness from those days. We can miss godliness, but not cleanliness.