Rural Gujarat's 47 per cent people defecate in open, 63 per cent villages don't have drainage facility: NSSO

By A Representative
Latest Government of India data suggest that, despite the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) cleanliness dive launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in October 2014, 47.1 per cent of Gujarat’s rural population still defecates in the open, which is worse than as many as nine other major Indian states.
Released in “Swachhta Status Report 2016”, prepared by the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO), India’s premier data collection centre, the data show that the best performer remains Kerala, where just about 2.3 per cent of people defecating in the open.
The 2011 Census of India figures, released about three years ago, show that Gujarat, considered a model for other states to follow, had 65.76 per cent of 6,765,403 rural households, which would roughly be 2.28 crore of the rural population, used open fields to defecate.
Explaining the reasons for coming up with the report, the NSSO says, “The aim of the SBM is to achieve Swachh Bharat by 2019, as a fitting tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary. Especially in the rural areas, it says, it would improve “the levels of cleanliness through solid and liquid waste management activities and making gram panchayats open defecation free, clean and sanitised.”

Among its other objectives are, it says, to remove “the bottlenecks that were hindering the progress, including partial funding for individual household latrines from Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, and focussing on critical issues affecting outcomes.”
The focus areas identified for the SBM in rural areas, according to the NSSO, are not just construction of individual household latrines, saying, “The programme is aimed at covering all the rural families. Incentive as provided under the scheme may be extended to all below poverty line (BPL) households and Above Poverty Line (APL) Households restricted to SCs/STs, small and marginal farmers, landless labourers with homestead, physically challenged and women headed households.”
“The construction of household toilets will be undertaken by the household itself and on completion and use of the toilet, the cash incentive will be given to the household in recognition of its achievement”, the NSSO points out.
Despite the targets, the data show that, despite the SBM, Gujarat has a long way to go, with 44.5 per cent rural households still do not have what the NSSO calls “sanitary toilets” – a category which “ensures safe confinement and disposal of faeces (excreta) and does not require the need for human handling.”

This is against just about 2.4 per cent of Kerala’s rural households not having sanitary toilets, Himachal Pradesh’s 9.6 per cent, Haryana’s 9.8 per cent, Punjab’s 13.3 per cent, Uttarakhand’s 19.5 per cent, Assam’s 33.3 per cent, West Bengal’s 34.9 per cent, and Telangana’s 38.9 per cent.
Interestingly, 62.7 per cent of the villages of Gujarat, if the report is any indication, do not have drainage arrangement, which is worse than the national average of 44.4 per cent – suggesting that even if 55.5 per cent rural households may be having sanitary latrines, many of them are deprived of any facilities in the form of what NSSO calls katchi nali or pakki nali.
---
Download HERE for full report

Comments

From Kerala to Bangladesh: Lynching highlights deep social faultlines

By A Representative The recent incidents of mob lynching—one in Bangladesh involving a Hindu citizen and another in Kerala where a man was killed after being mistaken for a “Bangladeshi”—have sparked outrage and calls for accountability.

What Sister Nivedita understood about India that we have forgotten

By Harasankar Adhikari In the idea of a “Vikshit Bharat,” many real problems—hunger, poverty, ill health, unemployment, and joblessness—are increasingly overshadowed by the religious contest between Hindu and Muslim fundamentalisms. This contest is often sponsored and patronised by political parties across the spectrum, whether openly Hindutva-oriented, Islamist, partisan, or self-proclaimed secular.

When a city rebuilt forgets its builders: Migrant workers’ struggle for sanitation in Bhuj

Khasra Ground site By Aseem Mishra* Access to safe drinking water and sanitation is not a privilege—it is a fundamental human right. This principle has been unequivocally recognised by the United Nations and repeatedly affirmed by the Supreme Court of India as intrinsic to the right to life and dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution. Yet, for thousands of migrant workers living in Bhuj, this right remains elusive, exposing a troubling disconnect between constitutional guarantees, policy declarations, and lived reality.

Aravalli at the crossroads: Environment, democracy, and the crisis of justice

By Rajendra Singh* The functioning of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has undergone a troubling shift. Once mandated to safeguard forests and ecosystems, the Ministry now appears increasingly aligned with industrial interests. Its recent affidavit before the Supreme Court makes this drift unmistakably clear. An institution ostensibly created to protect the environment now seems to have strayed from that very purpose.

'Festive cheer fades': India’s housing market hits 17‑quarter slump, sales drop 16% in Q4 2025

By A Representative Housing sales across India’s nine major real estate markets fell to a 17‑quarter low in the October–December period of 2025, with overall absorption dropping 16% year‑on‑year to 98,019 units, according to NSE‑listed analytics firm PropEquity. This marks the weakest quarter since Q3 2021, despite the festive season that usually drives demand. On a sequential basis, sales slipped 2%, while new launches contracted by 4%.

Safety, pay and job security drive Urban Company gig workers’ protest in Gurugram

By A Representative Gig and platform service workers associated with Urban Company have stepped up their protest against what they describe as exploitative and unsafe working conditions, submitting a detailed Memorandum of Demands at the company’s Udyog Vihar office in Gurugram. The action is being seen as part of a wider and growing wave of dissatisfaction among gig workers across India, many of whom have resorted to demonstrations, app log-outs and strikes in recent months to press for fair pay, job security and basic labour protections.

India’s universities lag global standards, pushing students overseas: NITI Aayog study

By Rajiv Shah A new Government of India study, Internationalisation of Higher Education in India: Prospects, Potential, and Policy Recommendations , prepared by NITI Aayog , regrets that India’s lag in this sector is the direct result of “several systemic challenges such as inadequate infrastructure to provide quality education and deliver world-class research, weak industry–academia collaboration, and outdated curricula.”

The rise of the civilizational state: Prof. Pratap Bhanu Mehta warns of new authoritarianism

By A Representative Noted political theorist and public intellectual Professor Pratap Bhanu Mehta delivered a poignant reflection on the changing nature of the Indian state today, warning that the rise of a "civilizational state" poses a significant threat to the foundations of modern democracy and individual freedom. Delivering the Achyut Yagnik Memorial Lecture titled "The Idea of Civilization: Poison or Cure?" at the Ahmedabad Management Association, Mehta argued that India is currently witnessing a self-conscious political project that seeks to redefine the state not as a product of a modern constitution, but as an instrument of an ancient, authentic civilization.

Why experts say replacing MGNREGA could undo two decades of rural empowerment

By A Representative A group of scientists, academics, civil society organisations and field practitioners from India and abroad has issued an open letter urging the Union government to reconsider the repeal of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and to withdraw the newly enacted Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025. The letter, dated December 27, 2025, comes days after the VB–G RAM G Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 16 and subsequently approved by both Houses of Parliament, formally replacing the two-decade-old employment guarantee law.

Search This Blog