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The Real Status of Rural Sanitation
A response to the article “Open Defecation in Rural India, 2015–16: Levels and Trends in NFHS–4” (EPW, 3 March 2018) points out that the NFHS–4 data on open defecation in rural India is neither the “best” nor is it “new.” Rural India is well on its way to becoming open defecation free before the proposed deadline of 2 October 2019.
The article “Open Defecation in Rural India, 2015–16: Levels and Trends in NFHS–4” by Diane Coffey and Dean Spears (EPW, 3 March 2018) relies heavily on the findings of the National Family Health Survey–4 (NFHS–4) to draw conclusions about the status of rural sanitation in India, calling it “the best new data on open defecation in rural India to be released in over a decade.” In fact, there have been at least two national-level independent surveys—one by the Quality Council of India (QCI) and the other, the National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey (NARSS) 2017–18—that provide an update on the sanitation status of rural India.
Misleading Data
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