International Journal of Social Science Research (IJSSR)

Localization of Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban): A comparative analysis of Governance practices in Warangal and Karimnagar Municipal Corporations

The challenge of urban sanitation has become all the more intense with rapid population growth, with national governments handing over sanitation management to the local levels of the city governments. Under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U), the city governments, especially tier 2 cities, have been struggling to localize the national mandates to suit their unique native conditions. Previous research has predominantly relied on analyzing the SBM-U from a top-down governance perspective, focusing on tier-I cities such as Hyderabad or Pune. This study uses a mixed-methods approach to analyze the governance practices of tier 2 cities of Warangal and Karimnagar to understand how these municipal corporations localize the SBM-U mandates to deliver quality sanitation services. The data obtained through questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions are analyzed to evaluate the localization of SBM-U in these cities. Contrary to what has often been assumed, municipal corporations with smaller, compact administrative structures outperforms those with large, sprawling municipal structures. The findings indicate that while private sector outsourcing optimizes sanitation services, it weakens the democratic supervision of municipal corporation. It also shows that national missions perform better when city governments directly include marginalized communities in service delivery, rather than relying solely on technical top-down grievance applications like the Swachhata App. The study concludes that under SBM-U, tailoring sanitation policies to neighbourhood-specific needs allows local city government in both Warangal and Karimnagar to build cleaner, more responsive communities.