Skip to main content

New NSS report points to poor sanitary conditions in rural Gujarat

By Rajiv Shah 
Rural Gujarat is known to have poor malnutrition levels. Malnutrition and sanitation are both interrelated. A new National Sample Survey Organization report has suggested that the state’s performance in providing sanitation to its rural population is not up to the mark. 
In a major revelation, the new National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) report, “Key Indicators of Drinking Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Housing Condition in India”, released in December 2013, has found that Gujarat’s performance in providing sanitary and hygienic conditions to its rural population is not progressing well enough. In fact, if the data are indication, Gujarat’s performance on this score cannot be said to considered “vibrant” in any sense. The NSSO survey data suggest that Gujarat is an average performer, especially on issues related with sanitation. If the report is to be believed, a whopping 58.7 per cent of the rural households of Gujarat have no access to toilets – which means that majority of the rural population goes into the open for defecation.
Rural households without toilets (per 1000)
If the report is any indicator, as many as 10 out of 20 major states selected for analysis have a lesser percentage of rural households without toilets. These are Kerala (2.8 per cent), Assam (13.7 per cent), Uttarakhand (19.7 per cent), Punjab (22.2 per cent), Haryana (25.4 per cent), Himachal Pradesh (25.7 per cent), West Bengal (39.7 per cent), Jammu & Kashmir (44.3 per cent), Maharashtra (54.0 per cent), and Andhra Pradesh (54.3 per cent). The all-India average of households without toilets is slightly better than Gujarat’s – 59.4 per cent. Lack of toilets, if analysts are to be believed, indicates that manual scavenging is widely prevalent in rural Gujarat, as in other parts of India.
Further, the survey found that 53.9 per cent of the rural households had no bathroom facility attached to the dwelling units, which again is worse suggests poor sanitary conditions in rural areas of the state. Here again, it is worse than as many as nine out of 20 major Indian states. The states with lesser percentage of households with “no bathrooms” within the dwelling units are Kerala (9.7 per cent), Haryana (14.4 per cent), Uttarakhand (20.5 per cent), Himachal Pradesh (31.7 per cent), Jammu & Kashmir (40.5 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (45.4 per cent), Assam (45.6 per cent), and Karnataka (48.1 per cent). The all-India average for no bathroom facility within rural dwelling units is 62.3 per cent.
Rural households with drainage facilities (per 1000)
Another indicator of poor sanitation is, according to the NSSO data, Gujarat is one of the worst performers in providing drainage facilities to its rural households. To quote NSSO, “Proper drainage arrangement meant a system of easy carrying-off waste water and liquid waste of the house without any overflow or seepage. This is an essential requirement for maintaining hygienic condition surrounding the house.” The survey, it added, tried to ascertain whether a household had any drainage system, if a household had some drainage system, whether the drainage system was underground or covered pucca or open pucca or open katcha.”
Data suggest that only 26.1 per cent of the rural households had access to drainage facility, as against the national average of 31.7 per cent of the rural households. The rural areas of the states with better drainage facilities attached to their households are Haryana (81.7 per cent), Punjab (79.3 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (49.5 per cent), Karnataka (43.3 per cent), Maharashtra (43.0 per cent), Uttarakhand (42.5 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (42.2 per cent), Kerala (41.3 per cent), Jammu & Kashmir (34.2 per cent), and Tamil Nadu (29.0 per cent). The all-India average on this score is 31.7 per cent.
The survey also finds that as many as 50.4 per cent of the rural households of Gujarat do not have any access to any garbage disposal facility. This is worse than several “progressive” states, including Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh. The NSSO explains, “The two aspects, viz., drainage arrangement and garbage disposal system, are mainly associated with hygiene and cleanliness of the house.” Also associated with this “important aspect” of living condition and facility is “the availability of direct opening to road from the house”, the NSSO suggests, adding, “A household living in a house without any direct opening to the road appears to be deprived of one important facility for trouble-free movement. In this survey it was ascertained whether a household had any ‘direct opening to road/lane/constructed path’.”
Thus, the survey finds that in Gujarat 17.1 per cent of the rural households do not have any direct opening towards roads. While Gujarat scores worse than the all-India average, which is 14.6 per cent rural households having no direct opening to roads, the state is found to be a better perform than only six of the 20 major states of India – Uttar Pradesh (18.7 per cent), Bihar (20.1 per cent), Jharkhand (20.6 per cent), Himachal Pradesh (27.5 per cent), Uttarakhand (27.6 per cent), and Jammu & Kashmir (36.7 per cent).

Comments

TRENDING

Gujarat Information Commission issues warning against misinterpretation of RTI orders

By A Representative   The Gujarat Information Commission (GIC) has issued a press note clarifying that its orders limiting the number of Right to Information (RTI) applications for certain individuals apply only to those specific applicants. The GIC has warned that it will take disciplinary action against any public officials who misinterpret these orders to deny information to other citizens. The press note, signed by GIC Secretary Jaideep Dwivedi, states that the Right to Information Act, 2005, is a powerful tool for promoting transparency and accountability in public administration. However, the commission has observed that some applicants are misusing the act by filing an excessive number of applications, which disproportionately consumes the time and resources of Public Information Officers (PIOs), First Appellate Authorities (FAAs), and the commission itself. This misuse can cause delays for genuine applicants seeking justice. In response to this issue, and in acc...

'MGNREGA crisis deepening': NSM demands fair wages and end to digital exclusions

By A Representative   The NREGA Sangharsh Morcha (NSM), a coalition of independent unions of MGNREGA workers, has warned that the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is facing a “severe crisis” due to persistent neglect and restrictive measures imposed by the Union Government.

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor*  This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

Gandhiji quoted as saying his anti-untouchability view has little space for inter-dining with "lower" castes

By A Representative A senior activist close to Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar has defended top Booker prize winning novelist Arundhati Roy’s controversial utterance on Gandhiji that “his doctrine of nonviolence was based on an acceptance of the most brutal social hierarchy the world has ever known, the caste system.” Surprised at the police seeking video footage and transcript of Roy’s Mahatma Ayyankali memorial lecture at the Kerala University on July 17, Nandini K Oza in a recent blog quotes from available sources to “prove” that Gandhiji indeed believed in “removal of untouchability within the caste system.”

Targeted eviction of Bengali-speaking Muslims across Assam districts alleged

By A Representative   A delegation led by prominent academic and civil rights leader Sandeep Pandey  visited three districts in Assam—Goalpara, Dhubri, and Lakhimpur—between 2 and 4 September 2025 to meet families affected by recent demolitions and evictions. The delegation reported widespread displacement of Bengali-speaking Muslim communities, many of whom possess valid citizenship documents including Aadhaar, voter ID, ration cards, PAN cards, and NRC certification. 

Uttarakhand tunnel disaster: 'Question mark' on rescue plan, appraisal, construction

By Bhim Singh Rawat*  As many as 40 workers were trapped inside Barkot-Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi after a portion of the 4.5 km long, supposedly completed portion of the tunnel, collapsed early morning on Sunday, Nov 12, 2023. The incident has once again raised several questions over negligence in planning, appraisal and construction, absence of emergency rescue plan, violations of labour laws and environmental norms resulting in this avoidable accident.

India's health workers have no legal right for their protection, regrets NGO network

Counterview Desk In a letter to Union labour and employment minister Santosh Gangwar, the civil rights group Occupational and Environmental Health Network of India (OEHNI), writing against the backdrop of strike by Bhabha hospital heath care workers, has insisted that they should be given “clear legal right for their protection”.

Rally in Patna: Non-farmer bodies to highlight plight of agriculture in Eastern India ahead of march to Parliament

P Sainath By  A  Representative Ahead of the march to Parliament on November 29-30, 2018, organized by over 210 farmer and agricultural worker organisations of the country demanding a 21-day special session of Parliament to deliberate on remedial measures for safeguarding the interest of farm, farmers and agricultural workers, a mass rally been organized for November 23, Gandhi Sangrahalaya (Gandhi Museum), Gandhi Maidan, Patna. Say the organizers, the Eastern region merits special attention, because, while crisis of farmers and agricultural workers in Western, Southern and Northern India has received some attention in the media and central legislature, the plight of those in the Eastern region of the country (Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Eastern UP) has remained on the margins. To be addressed by P Sainath, founder of People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI), a statement issued ahead of the rally says, the Eastern India was the most prosperous regi...

Job opportunities decreasing, wages remain low: Delhi construction workers' plight

By Bharat Dogra*   It was about 32 years back that a hut colony in posh Prashant Vihar area of Delhi was demolished. It was after a great struggle that the people evicted from here could get alternative plots that were not too far away from their earlier colony. Nirmana, an organization of construction workers, played an important role in helping the evicted people to get this alternative land. At that time it was a big relief to get this alternative land, even though the plots given to them were very small ones of 10X8 feet size. The people worked hard to construct new houses, often constructing two floors so that the family could be accommodated in the small plots. However a recent visit revealed that people are rather disheartened now by a number of adverse factors. They have not been given the proper allotment papers yet. There is still no sewer system here. They have to use public toilets constructed some distance away which can sometimes be quite messy. There is still no...