Recently, the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has released the key indicators of drinking water, sanitation, hygiene and housing condition in India, generated from the data collected in its 69th round survey during July 2012 to December 2012.
Housing is a basic necessity of human well-being. Along with the need for a shelter, other facilities in the micro-environment of housing, e.g. type of dwelling unit, drinking water, sanitation, hygiene, etc., constitute vital components of overall quality of life of the population. The objective of the NSS 69th round survey on ‘Drinking water, sanitation, hygiene and housing condition’ was to collect information on the different aspects of living conditions of Indian population necessary for decent and healthy living, and also to develop suitable indicators to assess the situation. On drinking water, information collected in the survey included (i) sources and sufficiency of drinking water, (ii) distance to the source of drinking water and (iii) quality of drinking water. On the sanitation facilities, several pertinent information viz. (i) availability of bathroom (ii) availability of latrine and its type, etc. were collected. Some information on micro-environment surrounding the dwelling unit, e.g. garbage disposal, drainage arrangement, and problem of flies/mosquitoes, availability of electricity were also collected. Other relevant information on housing condition covered age of the house, condition of the house, type of the dwelling unit, floor area of the dwelling unit, etc.
The survey covered the whole of the Indian Union. The key results of the survey are based on the central sample consisting of 4,475 villages in rural areas and 3,522 urban blocks spread over all States and Union Territories. The total number of households surveyed was 95,548 (53,393 in rural areas and 42,155 in urban areas).
Some salient findings of the survey regarding drinking water, sanitation, hygiene and housing condition in India during 2012 are as follows:
· About 88.5 percent households in rural India had improved source of drinking water while the corresponding figure was 95.3 percent in urban India.
· Among rural households, 85.8 percent had sufficient drinking water and for urban India the corresponding figure was 89.6 percent.
· Percentage of households who got drinking water facilities within premises was 46.1 percent in rural India and 76.8 percent in urban India.
· About 62.3 percent of rural households and 16.7 percent of urban households did not have any bathroom facility.
Sources:
Based on the report of Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation
