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Changes in Open Defecation in Rural North India: 2014-2018

Author

Listed:
  • Gupta, Aashish

    (University of Pennsylvania)

  • Khalid, Nazar

    (rice Institute)

  • Desphande, Devashish

    (Centre for Policy Research)

  • Hathi, Payal

    (rice Institute)

  • Kapur, Avani

    (Centre for Policy Research)

  • Srivastav, Nikhil

    (University of Texas at Austin)

  • Vyas, Sangita

    (University of Texas at Austin)

  • Spears, Dean

    (University of Texas at Austin)

  • Coffey, Diane

    (rice Institute)

Abstract

Since October 2014, the Government of India has worked towards a goal of eliminating open defecation by 2019 through the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). In June 2014, we reported the results of a survey of rural sanitation behaviour in north India. Here, we report results from a late 2018 survey that revisited households from the 2014 survey in four states: Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. Although rural latrine ownership increased considerably over this period, open defecation remains very common in these four states. There is substantial heterogeneity across states in what the SBM did and how. Many survey respondents report that the SBM attempted to coerce latrine construction, including by withholding or threatening to withhold government benefits. ST and SC households were especially likely to face coercion. Variation in SBM coercion is correlated with variation in sanitation outcomes: in villages where more people report coercive SBM activities, more people also reported switching to latrine use. These outcomes suggest the need for transparent, fact-based public dialogue about the SBM: its costs and benefits, its accomplishments and means.

Suggested Citation

  • Gupta, Aashish & Khalid, Nazar & Desphande, Devashish & Hathi, Payal & Kapur, Avani & Srivastav, Nikhil & Vyas, Sangita & Spears, Dean & Coffey, Diane, 2019. "Changes in Open Defecation in Rural North India: 2014-2018," IZA Discussion Papers 12065, IZA Network @ LISER.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12065
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sangita Vyas & Dean Spears, 2018. "Sanitation and Religion in South Asia: What Accounts for Differences across Countries?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(11), pages 2119-2135, November.
    2. Michael Geruso & Dean Spears, 2018. "Neighborhood Sanitation and Infant Mortality," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 125-162, April.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Vikram Dayal & Anand Murugesan & Tauhidur Rahman, 2022. "Drain on your health: Sanitation externalities from dirty drains in India," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 2251-2273, November.
    3. Pritha Chatterjee & Rockli Kim & Akshay Swaminathan & Rakesh Kumar & S.V. Subramanian, 2019. "From Administrative to Political Evaluation: Estimating Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Indicators for Parliamentary Constituencies in India," Journal of Development Policy and Practice, , vol. 4(2), pages 188-212, July.
    4. Gupta, Aashish & Vyas, Sangita & Hathi, Payal & Khalid, Nazar & Srivastav, Nikhil & Spears, Dean & Coffey, Diane, 2019. "Persistence of solid fuel use despite increases in LPG ownership: New survey evidence from rural north India," SocArXiv yv2es, Center for Open Science.
    5. Renee De Shay & Dawn L. Comeau & Gloria D. Sclar & Parimita Routray & Bethany A. Caruso, 2020. "Community Perceptions of a Multilevel Sanitation Behavior Change Intervention in Rural Odisha, India," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-16, June.
    6. Hossain, Md Amzad & Mahajan, Kanika & Sekhri, Sheetal, 2022. "Access to toilets and violence against women," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).

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    JEL classification:

    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development

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