NSO Survey Debunks ODF-Free India Claim

A survey conducted by the National Statistical Organisation (NSO) has debunked the government claim of Open Defecation Free-India (ODF-Free India).

The governed has claimed that 95% of the households in the country were covered under its flagship scheme Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and had claimed that India is now ODF-Free.
But, the NSO survey shows that only 71% of the rural households in the country have access to toilets, poking a hole into the government claims.
The survey was carried between July and December 2018, with October 1 as the reference date.
Before the survey began, big states like Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat have claimed that they are 100% open defecation free.
States like Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu claimed to be of ODF-Free during the survey period.

The Survey shows that 42% of households in Jharkhand had no access to toilets at that time.
The gap was 37% in Tamil Nadu and 34% in Rajasthan. These two states were one of the earliest to declare themselves as ODF.
For other states, the gap was Karnataka – 30%, Andhra Pradesh – 22% and Maharashtra – 22%.
While in the first week of October 2018 the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Grameen) said that 25 states and UTs are ODF with toilet access to 95% of the country.
The NSO data shows that at that time 28.&% of rural households have no access to toilets.
Though, 71% of access to toilets is in itself a big achievement to NSO’s survey in 2012 where it was only 40%.
The data on the usage of toilets was also encouraging. According to NSO, 95% of households with access to toilets are using them.
This is a big achievement for the government.

The data shows that the next big challenge lies in the disposal of waste.
As per the data, while 50% of the households use septic tanks 21% use signal pits. Both of these need to be cleaned and the fecal sludge must be disposed safely.
The Swachh Bharat scheme recommended twin leach pit system was used only by 10% of households.
In this system the waste composts on its own without any need for disposal.