Swachh Bharat: Why India needs a sanitation and water policy

Abstract

The unfortunate incident in Badaun and similar others has raised the issue of lack of sanitation facilities in India. According to a recent Report released by World Health Organization (WHO), India continues to be a country with the highest number of people in the world practicing open defecation (OD) - about half of its population. Of the one billion people practicing OD in the world, 597 million live in India. India's performance is worse than that of other emerging market economies and least developed countries (LDCs). In India 65 per cent population in rural areas (30 per cent in LDCs) and 12 per cent in urban area (6 per cent) resort to OD. And still worst, according to WHO, India is not making significant strides in reducing OD. In the case of drinking water, India is doing better than many other countries in the world. But there is further scope to improve safe drinking water facilities in the country, as in rural areas, 1 per cent of population is using surface water which is considered unsafe.

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