<span style="color: #222222;">President  Droupadi Murmu today conferred the awards for Swachh Survekshan Grameen 2022 and Jal Jeevan Mission Functionality Assessment at a function in New Delhi. In the big states category the first award for Swachh Survekshan Grameen was given to Telangana, second to Haryana and the third award was bagged by Tamil Nadu. In small states and UTs category, Andaman and Nicobar won the first award, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu second and Sikkim got the third award.<br />''<br />''The Swachh Survekshan Gramin-2022 aimed to undertake ranking of States and Districts on the basis of their performance attained on key quantitative and qualitative Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen parameters. It also envisages to engage rural community in improvement of their sanitation status through an intensive and holistic IEC campaign.<br />''<br />''The awards for Functionality Assessment 2022 have been given after assessing the performance of local water utilities in the States and UTs. A functionality assessment exercise is undertaken every year by the Jal Jeevan Mission to understand the status of water service delivery in households.  In this category, Puducherry bagged first award, Goa second and Tamil Nadu was given third award. <br />''<br />''Addressing the function, the President lauded the government's initiatives for cleanliness saying the Swach Bharat Abhiyan and the Jal Jeevan Mission worked as security cover during COVID -19  period. She said, Mahatma Gandhi used to believe that the habit of cleanliness should be inculcated into people from their childhood. She added that the work for solid and liquid waste management is underway in three lakh villages acorss the country under Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen Phase two.<br />''<br />''Jal Shakti Minister, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said ten crore rural households have been provided safe and clean drinking water through taps under the Jal Jeevan Mission.  <br />''<br />''Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Giriraj Singh said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has brought the dreams of Mahatma Gandhi to people at the grassroot level.</span><br />