Despite the Government’s scheme of funding the construction of toilets under Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan, which started as Total Sanitation Campaign in 1999, latest Government survey shows that 60 per cent of rural homes do not have any access to toilet facilities.
While the situation is a lot better in urban India as less than nine per cent of the population lack the facility. “59.4 per cent and 8.8 per cent households in rural and urban India respectively had no latrine facilities,” said a statement from the National Sample Survey Office.
“Among the households having latrine facilities, 31.9 per cent and 63.9 per cent households in rural and urban India had access to its exclusive use,” said the statement..
The survey showed that about 62.3 per cent of rural households and 16.7 per cent of urban households did not have any bathroom facilities. NSSO’s data on ‘Key Indicators of Drinking Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Housing Condition in India’ survey covered 4,475 villages and 3,522 urban blocks during July to December 2012 was released on Wednesday.
The 69th round of survey encompassed a total of 95,548 households comprising 53,393 rural and 42,155 urban. The survey results further revealed that about 88.5 per cent households in rural and 95.3 per cent in urban India had improved drinking water access. Among rural households, 85.8 per cent had sufficient drinking water and for urban India the sufficiency level was 89.6 per cent.
“Percentage of households who got drinking water facilities within premises was 46.1 per cent in rural India and 76.8 per cent in urban India,” NSSO said. On power availability, the data revealed that 80 per cent rural households and 97.9 per cent urban households had electricity for domestic use.
It also said that 94.2 per cent households in rural India had secured tenure in their dwelling. In urban India, it was 71.3 per cent. On drainage system, NSSO said 31.7 per cent rural and 82.5 per cent urban households had improved drainage facility. In rural households, 32 per cent had some garbage disposal arrangement, whereas it was 75.8 per cent in urban areas.