NEW DELHI: India may have constructed over one crore toilets in a year under Prime Minister Narendra Modi ’s pet programme Swachh Bharat Abhiyan , but it does not appear to have brought about speedy behavioural change.Not even half the toilets built under the cleanliness mission are being used, an all-India survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Office ( NSSO ) has revealed. While just 46% of 95 lakh toilets built in rural India are being used, the figure is barely 50% even in urban areas, as per the survey.In rural areas, surveyors found households using toilets for storing grains or as general storage space and still going to the fields early in the morning to relieve themselves.However, the north-eastern states provide a glimmer of hope, with some areas recording over 100% usage.Although this stumped the surveyors initially, officials said the reason turned out to be simply that the households with newly-constructed toilets allowed their less fortunate neighbours to use their pucca toilets.The NSSO conducted a rapid sample survey between April and July following a request from ministries implementing various components of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Apart from behavioural change, it also analysed the progress on other parameters such as construction of toilets and achievements of different ministries.“The aim was to get a set of data for future reference. We don’t know if it can really capture behavioural change as it was conducted within six-nine months of implementation of the programme,” said an official involved in the survey.The ministry of statistics and programme implementation, the nodal ministry for NSSO, had planned to release the report on October 2, the anniversary of the launch of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. However, the ministry withheld the report after a review by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). The PMO thought the survey report would be used by the Opposition to slam Prime Minister Modi’s cleanliness initiative, officials told ET.“There have been at least four rounds of meetings at principal secretary level in the PMO, but the report has not been released,” said an official. “There were even some discussions about not releasing the survey report with any fanfare and quietly putting it up on ministry website as a link. But even that decision needs to be taken,” he said.A detailed questionnaire sent to the PMO and NSSO director-general Amarjeet Kaur did not elicit any response till late evening on Sunday.TCA Anant, chief statistician of India and secretary of ministry of statistics and programme implementation, said: “This was a rapid assessment on a limited set of indicators to serve as a baseline for the future. The results are being analysed and the report will be released when tables and analysis are completed.”The findings of the survey could provide some fodder to the Opposition against the programme for which the Centre appointed brand ambassadors and nudged state governments to provide grants to complete individual and community toilets in time.The NSSO survey should make clear what should have been common sense: it isn’t enough to construct toilets but, perhaps, it is even more important to ensure that there is adequate and proper supply of water in these toilets and that these are properly maintained. Without water supply, there will be only unusable, dirty toilets — hardly an incentive for eschewing open defecation. Effecting behavioural change requires nudges. Water supply in toilets is a good push. Having constructed record number of toilets, the government must focus on ensuring that these can be used, failing which it will remain a construction bonanza.