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NEWS ALERTS | Missing toilets: Is India’s sanitation drive ‘In Deep Shit’?
Missing toilets: Is India’s sanitation drive ‘In Deep Shit’?

Missing toilets: Is India’s sanitation drive ‘In Deep Shit’?

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published Published on Dec 26, 2013   modified Modified on May 23, 2016
A new report from Right to Sanitation Campaign in India entitled: In Deep Shit paints a gloomy picture about the position of India's sanitation, and simultaneously draws our attention to the case of ‘missing' and ‘dead' toilets. The report has questioned the claims made by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS) that India is making great strides in availing toilets to its rural population through the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA).

 

The report In Deep Shit exposes the discrepancy in toilet data in the rural areas as provided by the MDWS, which is 3.76 crore toilets higher than the one provided by Census 2011. The MDWS claims that 53.09% of rural households were covered by the sanitation drive by December 2010 while the Census rural toilet data (as collected by September 2010) was 22.39% lesser than the former's coverage. There is a variation of about 25 percent in the rural HH toilet coverage reported between the MDWS (Census 2011 projected HH coverage) and actual Census 2011 toilet coverage.

There are serious gaps between the data on coverage and the ground reality, points the report. The lacuna in data happens because there are instances where toilets were never constructed but were reported as existing, thus, indicating large-scale corruption. Restoration or renovation of existing toilets was enumerated as construction of new ones. On top of it, there exists a plethora of community toilet complexes (CTCs), which are either not built or are lying dysfunctional. The MDWS in one of its own paper too confesses that there is a huge data gap between Census 2011 report figures and the data reported by the states to the Ministry (please click here to access the paper).

Despite a baseline survey having done in Kerala, there is a gap between toilet coverage figures by MDWS (99.68%) and Census (93.23%). This gap may be higher for the BIMARU states, anticipates the report. The Census only provides the data related to toilet access, not use. Similarly, the MDWS provides data related to coverage. Though the current base line provides data related to functional and defunct toilets but it still does not give any data related to use, cautions the report.

According to the report In Deep Shit, the percentage of rural households with ‘missing' toilets is highest in Jharkhand (92.38%) to be followed by Madhya Pradesh (86.88%), Odisha (85.92%), Chhattisgarh (85.47%), Bihar (82.4%) and Rajasthan (80.35%). Only 30.7% rural households in India have access to toilets. Nearly, 77% of SCs and 84% of STs do not have toilets at home.

It is worth noting here that the newly released National Sample Report (69th Round) entitled: Key Indicators of Drinking Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Housing Condition in India says that 59.4 percent households in rural India and 8.8 percent in households in urban India have no latrine facilities. If the NSS rounds 65th and 69th are compared, one can say that sanitation situation has improved between 2008-09 and 2012. The NSS report Housing Condition and Amenities in India, 2008-09 (released in 2010) showed that nearly 65 percent of rural households had no latrine facility whereas 11 per cent of urban households did not have any latrine. Earlier the Census 2011 said that 69.3 percent and 18.6 percent households in rural India and urban India, respectively, had no latrine facilities.

References:

In Deep Shit, Right to Sanitation Campaign in India, November, 2013,
http://www.im4change.org/docs/228In%20Deep%20Shit.pdf

4 crore 'missing toilets' raise the stink, Governance Now, 2 December, 2013,
http://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/4-crore-039mi
ssing-toilets039-raise-the-stink-23521.html

Toilet scam leaps out of closet-Basant Kumar Mohanty, The Telegraph, 18 April, 2012,
http://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/toilet-scam-l
eaps-out-of-closet-basant-kumar-mohanty-14503.html

Availability and Type of Latrine Facility: 2001-2011
http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/hlo/Data_sheet/In
dia/Latrine.pdf

Key Indicators of Drinking Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Housing Condition in India (July 2012 to December 2012), NSS 69th Round, http://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/key-indicator
s-of-drinking-water-sanitation-hygiene-and-housing-conditi
on-in-india-23742.html

Housing Condition and Amenities in India, 2008-09 (released in 2010), National Sample Survey, http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/press_note_535_15nov10.pdf

Maternal and child nutrition: building momentum for impact (Comment), 6 June, 2013, Lancet, http://www.thelancet.com/series/maternal-and-child-nutrition

Final Figures of Houselisting & Housing Census, 2011 Released, 13 March, 2012, http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=80811

Houselisting and Housing Census Data Highlights-2011
http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/hlo/hlo_highlights.html

Policy Lessons from Implementing India's Total Sanitation Campaign (2012)-Dean Spears, India Policy Forum 2012, NCAER-The Brookings Institution,
http://www.ncaer.org/popuppages/EventDetails/IPF_2012/Dean
Spears.pdf

WHO/UNICEF joint monitoring report 2012: Progress on drinking water and sanitation, http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/publications/20
12/jmp2012.pdf

Off-track, off-target-Why investment in water, sanitation and hygiene is not reaching those who need it most (2011), Water Aid,
http://www.wateraid.org/~/media/Publications/water-sanitat
ion-hygiene-investment.ashx

For taller, smarter kids get toilets & sanitation, http://www.im4change.org/news-alerts/for-taller-smarter-ki
ds-get-toilets-sanitation-22040.html

Ramesh holds up Bihar toilet model, The Telegraph, 30 October, 2013,
http://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/ramesh-holds-
up-bihar-toilet-model-23171.html

Vidya Balan appointed Brand Ambassador for promoting Sanitation in India, Press Information Bureau, 3 May, 2012, http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=83056

Bride, who demanded toilet after marriage, rewarded-K Balchand, 20 March, 2012, http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/bride-who-demanded-t
oilet-after-marriage-rewarded/article3013568.ece

Coming up short in India -Dean Spears, Live Mint, 4 July, 2013,
http://www.im4change.org/latest-news-updates/coming-up-sho
rt-in-india-dean-spears-21870.html

Image Courtesy:  Total Sanitation Campaign, http://tsc.gov.in/TSC/PhotoGallary/web/gallery.aspx

 



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