Swachhta Status Report
According to recently released Swachhta Status Report by the National Sample Survey (NSS) Office, more than half the rural population of the country still opts for open defecation.
About the survey:
The nation-wide rapid survey was conducted during May-June 2015, concurrently with the 72nd round of the NSS. The survey was to track the government’s flagship programme, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
Highlights of the survey:
- The survey estimates that 52.1% of people in rural India choose open defecation compared to 7.5% in urban India.
- Only 45.3% rural households have a sanitary toilet, while in urban areas, the figure stands at 88.8%.
- The lowest percentage of households having sanitary toilets was reported in Jharkhand (18.8%), Chhattisgarh (21.2%) and Odisha (26.3%).
- The States with the highest numbers were Sikkim (98.2%), Kerala (97.6%) and Mizoram (96.2 %).
- 1% of the villages and 42% urban wards have community toilets. However, they were not being used in 1.7% villages and 1.6% urban wards. Also, in 22.6% of the villages and 8.6% urban wards, community toilets were not being cleaned.
- While 87.9% of the urban households were found to have access to water for use in toilets, only 42.5% rural households had this facility. For this situation to improve, under Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin), the incentive for individual toilet has been increased from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 12,000, to provide for water, including for storing water for hand-washing and cleaning.
Why open defecation is still rampant?
The main reason for open defecation is behaviour and mindset of the people who have continued the practice for centuries. Adequate availability of water for toilets is also a concern.
Performance of Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin):
Since the launch of Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) on October 2, 2014 there is an improvement of 8.12 percentage points in number of rural households having toilets, with 50.17% rural households covered as of February 2016.
