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Swachh Bharat: BeyondCleanlinessWhiletheSwachhBharatMissionhasbeenlaudedforpushingtowardsaCleanIndia,thereseemstobenowaytovalidateitssuccess.

ClosetothreeyearssincetheSwachhBharatMission(SBM)’slaunch,doweknowwhetherthemissionhasbeenasuccess?No,wedon’t.

The Swachhta Status Report 2016 published by NationalSample Survey Office (NSSO), merely reports that thepercentageofpersonspractisingopendefecationis52.1%intheruralareasand7.5%inurbanareas.1

Doesthismeantherehasbeenasignificantimprovementinopendefecationrates?

Aresearcherwouldpointout,thatthesefiguresdonotbearanysignificanceunlesstheycanbecomparedtoabaseline.Intheabsenceofasystemtomonitor,trackandevaluatetheimpactofthe SBM, India’s progress towards sanitation and cleanliness lacks accountability andtransparency.

ThisarticleexploresthelimitationsforSBMinthisdataenvironment.

GlobalPerspective

ThegovernmentisaimingtoachieveanOpen-DefecationFree(ODF)Indiaby2ndOctober2019, the 150thbirth anniversary ofMahatma Gandhi.Open defecation isthe practice ofpeopledefecating inthe open, in fields,water bodies, orother open spacesinstead of using adesignated toilet.Thisprocesscreatesa vicious cycle ofdiseaseandpoverty.

According to WorldBankprojecteddata,

IndiarankshighestamongallSouthAsiancountriesinthepercentageofpeoplepractisingopendefecation2.Can thisalarmingstatisticbeattributed to the fact that thepracticehasbeenwidelyacceptedforgenerations,therebybecomingawell-establishedtraditiondeeply

Lack of datameans thatwe have no way tomeasure the impact andsuccess of the SwachhBharatMission

ingrained from early childhood and an accepted part of the Indian landscape? Certainly,policy-makersandacademics theorize this tobe thecase,pointing to theruralandurbandivideinopendefecationrates.However,thelackofdatamakesitdifficultforacademicstoprovideempiricalevidenceforthis.

What’swrongwiththedata?

GivenIndia’sphenomenaleconomicgrowthinrecenttimes,itisdifficulttounderstandwhysuchhighratesofopendefecationstillexist.Inordertoaddressthisgapininformation,weneedtotestthelinkagesbetweenODanditstheoreticaldeterminantsatthestateandnationallevel,toallow for targeted decision-making. These include testing if lower OD rates are statisticallyassociatedwithhighfemaleliteracyrates,wateravailability,GDPofthestate,andavailabilityofsanitationinfrastructure.YetmostsurveysonODdonotgatherinformationontheseindicators.Itistherefore,nearlyimpossibletodrawinferencesbetweenthemandODrates.

TheSwachhtaStatusReportsdonotcapturesuchindicatorsofinterest.TheyalsomakeseveralmethodologicaldecisionswhichleavetheirestimationsofODsuspect.Firstly,theNSSOdoesnotdirectlyaskifrespondentspracticeOD–instead,theorganizationcalculatesODbydiscountingrespondentswhoreportusingown,neighbours’orcommunity toilets.Furthermore, theNSSOinterviewsonlytheheadofthehouseholdwhomaynotbeawareofthesanitarypracticesofotherhouseholdmembers.NordotheyaccountforasocialdesirabilitybiaswhichmakesitunlikelythatrespondentswillopenlyconfesstopractisingOD,especiallywhenitissohighlystigmatized.

Politicians oftencite the success ofSBM by reportingthe number oflatrinesbuiltunderit. But this is afaulty metricbecause it is not agiven that latrinesbuilt automaticallytranslate to latrineuse. The suspectdata coming out ofthe governmenthas led to TheWorld Bankwithholding their

promiseofaUSD1.5billionloantowardsSBM;thefirstinstalmentofwhichwasdueinJulyof2016.Forthem,theIndiangovernmentfellshortonitscommitments,specificallyfailingtoshowindependentverificationofthefindingspresentedintheNSSOreports.

Needfordataintoday’sIndia

Asasociety,wespendimmenseamountsoftime,effortandmoneygettingdata.India’sODrates,forinstance,havebeentrackedinWorldBank2001projecteddata,2011Censusdataandsurveys

such as the IHDS, NFHS/DHS and the SQUAT survey. Yet these surveys use differentmethodologieswhichmeanthattheirODindicatorsarenotcomparable.Theydifferintermsof:

i. Themethodofdatacollection–thenumberofhouseholdsvisited,differencesinquestionsaskedetc.

ii. Definitionsofopendefecation–forexample,differentwaysofdefiningtoilet,communitytoilets,publictoilets,sewagenetwork,etc.

iii. Referenceperiod–thetimeintervalbetweentheWorldBankData,CensusDataandNSSORapidSurveyisnotconsistent.

We need high-quality, timely and cohesive data to hold ourgovernmentaccountableandbeafullyfunctioningdemocracy.InadevelopingeconomylikeIndia,dataiscriticaltoeconomic,socialandpoliticaldecision-making.Organizationsengagedinaffecting policy-making should take account of the need ofqualitydata.Datashouldbeupdatedusingastandardreporting

timetablethatisreligiouslyadheredto.Weneedabroaderattitudinalshiftaboutthecriticalroleofhigh-qualitydata in thesociety.Unless thishappens, the taskofbringingaboutchangeandcreatingsocialimpactbecomesnotonlydauntingbutalsoimpossible.

EveryquarterOutlineIndiapublishesaWorkingPaperSeriesbasedonourexperiencesinthefield.ThispieceisauthoredbyPVApoorva,AnjaliKrishanandSayakKhatua.

1NationalSampleSurveyOffice,MinistryofStatisticsandProgrammeImplementationandGovernmentofIndia(2016).SwachhtaStatusReport2016.RetrievedfromMinistryofStatisticsandProgrammeImplementation.http://mospi.nic.in/sites/default/files/publication_reports/Swachhta_Status_Report%202016_17apr17.pdf2 The World Bank, People practicing open defecation (% of population), Weighted average method [Data file].http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.STA.ODFC.ZS3Rajagopal, D. (January 2017) “World Bank yet to release fund for Swachh Bharat” Economic Times.http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/56429289.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst ttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/banking/finance/world-bank-yet-to-release-fund-for-swachh-bharat/articleshow/56429289.cms

India requires a broaderattitudinalshiftaboutthecritical role of high-qualitydatainsociety