According to a government survey, during 2020-2021, 95 percent of people in rural areas and 97.2 percent of people in cities had access to improved sources of drinking water.
According to the report based on the ‘Multiple Indicator Survey’ (MIS) of the 78th round of National Sample Survey (NSS), about 56.3 per cent people in rural areas and about 76.3 per cent people in urban areas have access to improved sources of drinking water located in household premises. ), which were available in abundance throughout the year.
The primary objective of the MIS was to collect data for the formulation of some important national indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The survey was initially planned to be conducted during January-December 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the data collection was extended till August 15, 2021.
For the central sample, the survey was conducted in 14,266 Phase I units (8,469 in rural areas and 5,797 in urban areas), covering a sample of 2,76,409 households.
The report, based on the MIS released in March, said that about 78.7 per cent of households in rural areas and about 97.1 per cent in urban areas reported that most of the household members had access to a toilet.
It said that of those who reported having access to toilets, about 97.5 per cent were in rural areas while about 99 per cent were in urban areas.
About 77.4 per cent in rural areas and about 92.7 per cent in urban areas have access to hand-washing facilities with water and soap/detergent within premises, the report said.
It said that around 49.8 per cent households in rural areas and around 92.0 per cent households in urban areas use clean fuel as the primary source of energy for cooking.
Clean fuels include LPG, other natural gas, cow dung gas, other biogas, electricity (including that generated by solar/wind power generators) and solar cookers etc.
About 33% in rural areas and about 39.4% in urban areas aged 15-29 years were in formal and non-formal education and training for the 12 months prior to the survey.
About 92.5 per cent of the households in rural areas reported the availability of roads within a radius of two kilometers from the place of residence. About 11.2 per cent of the households in rural areas and about 7.2 per cent of the households in urban areas have purchased or constructed a new house/flat for residential purpose after March 31, 2014.
