Rural India open defecation free? Not quite, shows NSO survey report

Around 71.3 per cent of rural households and 96.2 per cent of urban households had access to toilets during 2018, according to the survey

More than one-fourth of households in villages have no access to toilets, according to the latest official survey conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO).

Around 71.3 per cent of rural households and 96.2 per cent of urban households had access to toilets during 2018, according to the NSO’s “Drinking Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Housing Condition in India” report, released on Saturday. The survey was conducted between July and December last year.

The findings have come more than a month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared rural India to be open defecation-free (ODF). 

According to the survey, a household has