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As many as 60 per cent of rural households do not have access to a toilet facility even after 66 years of independence, show official data.
The situation is better in urban India, with less than nine per cent lacking the facility.
“59.4 per cent and 8.8 per cent of households in rural and urban India, respectively, had no latrine facilities,” the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) said.
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, it added.
NSSO’s data on the survey called ‘Key indicators of drinking water, sanitation, hygiene and housing condition in India’ covered 4,475 villages and 3,522 urban blocks during July - December 2012.
The 69th round of the survey encompassed a total of 95,548 households, comprising 53,393 rural and 42,155 urban.
Earlier this year, there was a heated debate between Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh and the BJP over the issue of toilets versus temple.
Ramesh, criticised by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over a similar comment, had attacked it for its double standards. Modi had said toilets should be built before temples in India. When Ramesh had earlier made a similar remark, he was criticised by the BJP.
NSSO data further showed access to drinking water facilities within premises moved at a snail’s pace in urban India in a period of three years.
Official data based on the 69th round of NSSO report (covering the period of July-December, 2012) released on Tuesday showed 76.8 per cent of households in urban India had drinking water facilities in premises. Previous data showed 75 per cent of households in urban India had potable water facilities.
The comparative figures for rural India stood at 46.1 per cent and 41 per cent, respectively. This clearly showed that while improvement in access to potable water within premises improved at a higher pace in rural households compared with urban ones, there are still large numbers of households with no access to such amenities.
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 in 2012.
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. It further said that about 62.3 per cent of rural households and 16.7 per cent of urban households did not have any bathroom facilities.
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 percent households in rural India had secured tenure in their dwelling. In urban India, it was 71.3 per cent.
Further, "65.8 per cent of rural households and 93.6 per cent of urban households lived in a house with pucca structure whereas 24.6 per cent of rural households and 5 per cent of urban households lived in a house with semi-pucca structure during 2012."
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.
