Swachchata Status Report: 70 percent more households get toilets in 2015-16

Under the work of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious Swachch Bharat Abhiyaan which aims to bring proper sanitation to all households and communities, there was a growth of nearly 70 percent in household level toilets in 2015-16, increasing to 97.73 lakh individual toilets from 58.54 lakh in 2014-15, said Swachchata Status Report 2016 by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO). The survey for the report was conducted between July 2014 and June 2015 to measure the progress of the Swachchata Bharat Mission. Over 1.09 crore toilets were built across the country in the first 11 months of 2015, quoted  Business Line from the report. However, 52.1 percent of the rural residents, from the 3,788 villages that were surveyed, did not choose to use them. The facilities were used more by residents in urban areas with only 7.5 percent people choosing to openly defecate. Swachch Bharat Abhiyaan has yielded varied outputs across the country, said a  The Times of India  report — it was found that over 42 percent toilets in rural India and 88 percent toilets in urban areas have access to water, a crucial factor in achieving complete sanitation under the mission. [caption id=“attachment_1690487” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] Over 90 percent of rural households in five states: Kerala, Sikkim, Mizoram, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana, have sanitary toilets. However, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan are lagging behind. The report also pointed out that an improvement was required in the urban areas of these states. Meanwhile, Uttarakhand and Mizoram became two states to achieve sanitary toilets in all urban households. The report mentioned that 46 percent of urban residents in the country who did not have household sanitary toilets have turned to community toilet complexes. According to  The Indian Express, Rajasthan, among all states and union territories is in the lead, having built 19.63 lakh toilets out of the total 97.73 lakh individual toilets. West Bengal is in the second position with construction of 12.96 lakh individual toilets, while Madhya Pradesh is third with 9.14 lakh individual toilets. In 2014-15, West Bengal had topped the list among states having constructed 8.47 lakh toilets. Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 2 October 2014 noting the need of proper sanitation in households and public places. The data, which calls for the need of behavioural change and better infrastructure for sanitation, has come just ahead of the NDA government completing two years in office with plans to enlarge the scope of the Swachchata Bharat Abhiyaan.