The Union government’s Multiple Indicator Survey conducted by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation revealed that more than 21% of rural households in India lacked access to any type of toilet facility.
The toilet facilities include exclusive household latrines, communal facilities, or community toilets.
The state with the highest number of households without toilet access was Jharkhand, with 41.3%, followed by Odisha (36.4%), Bihar (33.4%), Madhya Pradesh (28.3%), and Rajasthan (28.1%).
These findings contradict the claim made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019 that rural India had become open-defecation free during a Swachh Bharat Diwas event at the Sabarmati Riverfront in Ahmedabad.