India - Water resources management sector review : rural water supply and sanitation report
Mukherjee, Joyita ; Wisniwski, Sylvia
Over 75 percent of the rural population (or 520 million people) in India is not provided with public water supply facilities. Achievements in sanitation coverage have been less extensive, due to the lower attention it received compared with water supply. Only 3.6 percent of the rural population is covered at present; however, actions to improve coverage of sanitation have been stepped up recently, through provision of subsidies and technical assistance for household construction of sanitation facilities. National guidelines and investments in the rural water supply and sanitation (RWSS) sector, which have traditionally focused on extending coverage to rural areas, neglected to ensure that the quality of services to rural areas remained adequate. Public RWSS services today clearly do not adequately serve the needs of user communities because of such factors as poor design and construction, lack of attention to user needs, or lack of financial viability. There needs to be a transfer of ultimate ownership and responsibilities from the government to the users and their communities in order for the assets and services to be sustainable. There must also be a shift to a demand-driven approach which provides users with the services they want and are willing to pay for.
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