NARSS was conducted to support Government of India’s initiative of ‘Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin), to accelerate the efforts towards achieving universal sanitation coverage and to put focus on safe sanitation. With support from World Bank, NARSS aimed to achieve key sanitation outcomes which were measured through four Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs):
DLI #1: Reduction in the prevalence of open defecation
DLI #2: Sustaining ODF status in villages
DLI #3: Increase in population with access to solid & liquid waste management
DLI #4: Operationalisation of Performance Incentive Grant (PIG) scheme by DDWS
The Government of India took a loan from the World Bank (World Bank Support Operation to Swachh Bharat Mission) to put in place an incentive mechanism for the states. Both outputs and outcomes with clear indicators were defined and monitored as part of Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM-G) under the project.
We led the consortium and supported the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (now Ministry of Jal Shakti) in conducting three rounds of the National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey (NARSS) between 2017 and 2020. Through these surveys, we verified the progress of all Indian states and Union Territories on key rural sanitation performance indicators under the Swacch Bharat Mission – Gramin (SBM – G). Each round covered approximately 90,000 households across the country. The survey findings were used to assess the States’ & UTs’ performance against the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), aligning these with the World Bank’s Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs).
