In order to get a sense of the current status of sanitation in India's cities, a survey was initiated by the Ministry of Urban Development as a part of the National Rating and Award Scheme for Sanitation for Indian Cities. The methods used for the survey can be found on the Ministry of Urban Development website.

The findings and the rankings of the cities according to the survey found that the situation was grim with only 25 cities topping the list, while majority of the others lagged behind in terms of a number of sanitation parameters.

The Government of India announced the National Urban Sanitation Policy (NUSP) in 2008. As a part of this, the government proposes to encourage states to develop their own sanitation strategies to tackle their own sanitation problems and meet the goals of the NUSP. The rating and award scheme has been taken up under this policy initiative.

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