There has been a debate over mismatches between different sources of data on sanitation and water access in India. This article looks at the survey instruments and data from two nationally representative sample surveys, the National Family Health Survey-5 and the 79th round of the National Sample Survey. The findings show that some of the data discrepancies could be attributed to the differences in definitions and indicators used by different agencies. Integration in data collection tools and standardisation in reporting data across the different agencies could resolve this. 

Two landmark programmes were undertaken in the last decade by the Government of India (GoI), namely the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) and Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), aimed respectively at improving sanitation and water access. The SBM was launched in 2014 to make India open defecation free (ODF) by 2019. SBM-Grameen claimed success with all villages in the country declaring ODF in 2019. The programme is now in its second phase, or ODF plus, with the aim of sustaining the achievements made in the first phase, under the umbrella of Rural Sanitation Strategy (2019–29). The JJM was launched in 2019 with the goal of providing functional household tap connection (FHTC) with a minimum of 55 litres per capita per day to all rural house­holds by 2024, the target year revised recently to 2028 (PIB 2026).

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