A recent survey by the National Statistical Office has picked holes in the claims of open-defecation free India made by the Swachh Bharat scheme. The survey, which was carried out between July and December 2018, states that only 56.6 per cent of households in rural areas and 91.2 per cent in urban areas had access to toilets.
On October 2, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had declared the country as ODF meaning all households have access to toilets. But the survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), a wing of the National Statistics Office (NSO), proves these claims wrong. This survey, held under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme, was part of the 76th round of National Sample Survey (NSS) on drinking water, sanitation, hygiene, and housing conditions.
For the first time, the survey had specific questions regarding the use of latrines and the reasons for not using them.
The survey finds that despite having built toilets, many households did not use them regularly. Among those who have access to toilets, the survey says, about 48.4 per cent in rural areas and 74.8 per cent in urban areas used bathrooms attached to the dwelling unit.
According to the report, only 71.3 per cent of rural households and about 96.2 per cent of urban households had access to latrines. Of them, about 50.9 per cent of rural households and 48.9 per cent of urban households used 'flush/pour-flush to septic tank' type of latrine.
Among households having access to latrines, only 94.7 per cent of males and 95.7 per cent of females used latrines regularly in rural areas while in urban areas about 98 per cent of males and 98.1 per cent of females had regular use of latrines. According to the report, about 3.5 per cent of rural household members and 1.7 per cent of urban household members have never used latrines despite having access to them. The reason for this, the report says, is the lack of availability of water in these latrines. It is found that about 4.5 per cent of rural households and 2.1 per cent of urban households with access to latrines reported non-availability of water in them. The survey also says only 48 per cent of rural households and 86.1 per cent of urban households had access to both toilets and latrines in their premises.
According to the report, half the rural households in Uttar Pradesh and Odisha had no access to toilets in 2018.
