Swachh Bharat: 93% households have access to toilets, sanitation survey finds

Ravi S.Singh
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, March 5

Some 93.1 per cent of household are found to have access to toilets during 2018-19, according to the National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey (NARSS) conducted by an Independent Verification Agency (IVA).

The survey is a World Bank-supported project to the Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen (SBM-G).

As much as 96.5 per cent of the people who had access to toilets used them, says the report. Besides, over 90 per cent of villagers that were previously declared and verified as ODF were confirmed to be ODF. The remaining villages also had sanitation coverage of about 93 per cent.

Also, more than 95 per cent of the villages surveyed were found to have minimal litter and minimal stagnant water.

According to the government version, the IVA’s findings have been presented to the Expert Working Group (EWG) constituted for oversight of NARSS, comprising representatives from organizations including the World Bank, UNICEF, Water AID, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, India Sanitation Coalition, NITI Aayog and Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

The survey used the PPS (Probability Proportion to Size) sampling methodology, which yields results within a confidence interval of 95 per cent. Data was collected using the Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) platform. The survey also covered schools, aganwadis and public/community toilets in the villages.