India's missing toilets

Government unable to determine exactly how many households don't have toilets

 
By Ravi Bajpai
Published: Tuesday 19 November 2013

More than half of rural households across India could be without toilets, according to the 2011 Census, but the government refuses to acknowledge the scale of the problem.

The Drinking Water and Sanitation ministry claims 53.09 per cent of the country's rural households were covered by the toilet drive by December 2010, according to a document titled 'In Deep Shit' prepared by the Right to Sanitation Campaign in India.

But the 2011 Census reported the total number of rural households across the country that don't have a toilet was in fact 22.03 per cent less than the number released by the sanitation ministry, according to the document.

"Studies and reports have shown that there are serious gaps between the data on coverage and the ground reality. The ministry used the population growth over the years as a reason to justify the conflicting and alarming figures," the document states.

Use the interactive graphics below to analyse the discrepancies and the findings of the report. You can also download the complete report here

Missing toilets        (Enlarge View)

Rural households without toilets in different states

Darker the shade of blue, higher the percentage of rural households without toilets in the state. All data is based on Census 2011. Click on any state to know more about it. You can also use the drop-down below to find a particular state

 
 
Where is urban India's feaces disposed of?      (Enlarge View)

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