extracted from BBC News: “Nearly half of India’s 1.2 billion people have no toilet at home, but more people own a mobile phone, according to the latest census data. Only 46.9% of the 246.6 million households have lavatories while 49.8% defecate in the open. 
The remaining 3.2% use public toilets.
Census 2011 data on houses, household amenities and assets reveal that 63.2% of homes have a telephone.
Analysts say the data show the complex contradictions of the Indian system. They say the census reveals a country where millions have access to cutting-edge technology and consumer goods but a larger number of poor who lack access to even basic facilities. …
“Cultural and traditional reasons and a lack of education are the prime reasons for this unhygienic practice. We have to do a lot in these fronts,” Registrar General and Census Commissioner C Chandramouli said while releasing the latest data.
The data also reveal that Indians now largely live in nuclear families with 70% of homes consisting of only one couple – a dramatic change in a country where joint families were always the norm.
The census figures also show changes in how people access information and entertainment. More than half the population – 53.2% – have a mobile phone. There has been a 16% rise in the number of homes with television sets, while the use of radios has declined by 15%. The data show that 47.2% of households have a television while only 19.9% have a radio.
And the reach of computers with internet access is still minuscule, with only 3.1% of the population connected.”
via BBC News – India census: Half of homes have phones but no toilets.
India has made some progress in 10 years. But nothing like China in the same period.
Related page: Indian economic & social tensions?
