NEW DELHI: An independent verification of the Swachh Bharat (Grameen) programme has confirmed 96% usage of toilets in the country, ET has learnt.The National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey (NARSS) 2018-19, conducted by an Independent Verification Agency under the World Bank support project to the Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen (SBM-G), has found that 96.5% of the households in rural India who have access to a toilet use it, government sources told ET. The survey has also re-confirmed the Open Defecation Free (ODF) status of 90.7% of villages which were previously declared and verified as ODF by various districts and states. The survey was conducted between November 2018 and February 2019, covering 92040 households in 6136 villages across the country.Other key findings of the survey, ET has learnt, were that nearly 93% households were found to have access to toilets during the survey period while 96.5% of the people who had access to toilets used them. While 90.7% of villages which were previously declared and verified as ODF were confirmed to be ODF, the remaining villages also had sanitation coverage of about 93%, the survey shows. Further, 95.4% of the villages surveyed found to have minimal litter and minimal stagnant water, the survey has highlighted, ET has learnt.The Independent Verification Agency has presented their findings to the Expert Working Group (EWG) constituted for oversight of the survey, comprising representatives from organizations including the World Bank, UNICEF , Water Aid, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, India Sanitation Coalition, NITI Aayog , and Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation. The survey used the PPS (Probability Proportion to Size) sampling methodology, which yields results within a confidence interval of 95%. Data was collected using the Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing platform. The survey also covered schools, anganwadis and public or community toilets in these villages.The government claims that since its Swachh Bharat Mission programme started in October 2014, 500 million people have stopped defecating in the open , down from 550 million at the beginning of the programme to less than 50 million today. Over 9 crore toilets have been built across rural India under the Mission. Over 5.5 lakh villages and 615 districts have been declared ODF, along with 30 ODF States and Union Territories, as per the government.