Mapping public finance for rural drinking water and sanitation : Odisha State, Ganjam District (India)

The Government of India has set ambitious goals for rural drinking water and sanitation. Through two main flagship programmes, the Government aims to:

1. make the country free from open defecation in 2019; and
2. bring piped drinking water to at least 90% of rural households in 2022 and make sure that at least 80% have a household connection.

This working paper analyses how it aims to achieve these ambitious goals, specifically looking at the funding flows at national, state and district levels. For fiscal years 2014–15 to 2017–18, the Ministry’s investments in sanitation multiplied fivefold, but allocations to rural drinking water decreased by a third.

There are also concerns about the long-term sustainability of the current sanitation approach, as the programme emphasises construction of toilets at the expense of maintenance, behavioural change and waste management. In Odisha State, spending on water and sanitation - as a percentage of the state’s gross domestic product and as a percentage of the total state budget - has recently dropped. At the district level, financing of operations and maintenance is unclear, making it difficult to hold authorities to account for failing systems.