Sanitation conditions in South Asian countries: A special reference to India

Globally 2.4 billion people live without access to improved sanitation of which 1 billion people practice open defecation (WHO-2015). Sanitation was one of the most off-track Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Only 68% of the world’s population has access to improved sanitation (WHO-2015). Sanitation lies at the root of many other development challenges, as poor sanitation impacts public health, education and the environment. Based on the Global WASH fact sheet (2012), Maldives and Sri Lanka have better sanitation facilities than the great India and Afghanistan which is having least coverage. South Asian Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN) is working on the improving the sanitation facilities in the SAARC. Among Indian states, North Eastern states are having better facilities compare to other regions (Census-2011).After launching SBM programme sanitation growth is observed across the country. The paper is based on secondary data and focuses mainly on sanitation condition in South Asian countries, India and states. GIS Techniques are used to prepare the maps and analyse the data and is presented in the paper.