Cleanest and Crime free villages in India

A village that boasts of being crime-free

No murders or kidnappings, not even petty crimes like chain snatchings and thefts in the past 15 years! This is the proud record of a small village in eastern Uttar Pradesh.Welcome to Takhta village in Gorakhpur district, some 300 km from Lucknow, whose 1,500-odd residents take pride in the unique distinction of their native place.

And if you think it's only the locals who claim that Takhta is "the crime-free world of Uttar Pradesh", you are wrong.

Even the records of the Sahjanwa police station, under whose jurisdiction the village falls, attest the villagers' claim.

Locals say their crime-free status does not mean the absence of disputes, but the presence of effective redressal mechanisms.

Like other villagers, Takhta residents too witness disputes among themselves, but those are solved by the intervention of the elders and the panchayat members of the village.

The village's crime-free status is even more remarkable when compared to the rest of the state.

In 2009, a total of 148,012 criminal incidents took place in Uttar Pradesh, which included 4,004 murders, 2,066 dowry deaths and 1,451 rapes.

The figure for 2010 (till 20 Nov) is 144,675, which includes 3,782 murders, 1,923 dowry deaths and 1,216 rapes, official records show.

Meghalaya village declared cleanest in Asia

Mawlynnong, a small settlement located 75 kilometres from Shillong in Meghalaya, has earned the unique distinction of being declared the cleanest village in entire Asia.
The exclusive recognition has been conferred on the hamlet by a team of experts from the famous travel and tourism journal, "Discovery India".
Residents of this beautifully located village keep their surrounding clean by voluntarily performing all the civic duties such as sweeping the roads and lanes, watering the plants in public area, cleaning drains etc.
"All the people living in this village together take an effort to keep the village clean and tidy. Even small children help us to keep the village clean. These children never litter garbage around. They always make it a point to keep the village clean," said Leaderfiels Khongwit, a villager.
Dustbins crafted from bamboo canes are placed at important points in the village, and to supplement the beauty of their tiny cottages, the locals here foster different flowers in front of their houses and also in the backyards.
The serene beauty of Mawlynnong has now made it a popular tourist spot for holiday-makers.