Government launches Swachh Survekshan Gramin 2017

August 9, 2017

The Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation has released Swachh Survekshan Gramin 2017, third party survey report to assess the progress Swachh Bharat Mission in rural India
The survey was undertaken by the Quality Council of India (QCI) between May and June 2017 to take into account status of rural sanitation in all States and UTs. The survey covered 4626 villages across all States and Union territories.

Key Highlights of Swachh Survekshan Gramin

QCI claims that 62.45% of the households have access to a toilet and 91.29% of the people who had access to a toilet also used it. Over 4.54 crore household toilets have been constructed since the launch of the Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin. 160 districts, 2,20,104 villages and 5 States declared have been declared Open Defecation Free (ODF). Sanitation Coverage has increased from 39% in October 2016 to 66% in August 2017.
Top performing states: Northeastern States of Sikkim, Nagaland and Manipur with 95% rural households covered by toilets were top performers. Himalayan States of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand were also top performers with over 90% toilet coverage of the rural houses.
Performance of Big States: Almost all rural households in Kerala and Haryana have access to a toilet. In, Gujarat 85% of rural households have access to toilets. Tamil Nadu has 79% rural households access to a toilet.
Worst performing States: Bihar (30% coverage) and Uttar Pradesh (37%), Jharkhand (37%) were among the worst performers in terms of rural sanitation.

About Quality Council of India (QCI)

QCI was set up in 1997 by Union Government jointly with Indian Industry as an autonomous body. Its mandate is to establish and operate the National Accreditation Structure (NAS) for conformity assessment bodies and providing accreditation in the field of health, education and quality promotion.
It also promotes the adoption of quality standards relating to Food Safety Management Systems (ISO 22000 Series), Quality Management Systems (ISO 14001 Series) and Product Certification and Inspection. It has been assigned task of monitoring and administering the National Quality Campaign and also oversee function of National Information and Enquiry Services.