NEW DELHI: Over 93 per cent households in villages who have access to toilets are using them and about 77% homes in rural areas have got toilets, the annual rural sanitation survey has found.

The survey, NARSS 2017-18, conducted by an independent verification agency under the World Bank support project to the Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin (SBM-G), has also re-confirmed the Open Defecation Free (ODF) status of about 96% of villages which were previously declared and verified as ODF by various districts and states.

The survey was conducted between mid-November 2017 and mid-March 2018 and covered 92,040 households in 6,136 villages across India.

The key findings of NARSS 2017-18 are as follows:

* According to the report, 70% of the villages surveyed found to have minimal litter and minimal stagnant water

* The independent agency presented their findings to the Expert Working Group (EWG) constituted for oversight of NARSS, comprising representatives from organisations including the World Bank, UNICEF, Water Aid, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, India Sanitation Coalition, Sulabh International, Knowledge Links, NITI Aayog and statistics and programme implementing ministry.

* The government said Since the launch of Swachh Bharat Mission in October 2014, about 30 crore people have stopped defecating in the open and over 6.5 crore toilets have been built across rural areas.

