Drinking water, hygiene, housing survey from Aug 6

The 76th round of surveys on 'Drinking Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Housing Condition (DWSHHC) and Persons with Disabilities will begin in all the 30 districts of Karnataka on August 6.

The DWSHHC survey is being conducted after six years while the Persons with Disabilities (PD) enumeration is happening after 12 years. "The surveys are essential as they will show whether or not central and state government schemes and services are reaching people at the grassroots level," Rajeshwari Kasturi, Director, Data Processing Centre, National Sample Survey Office, told reporters at the inauguration of the two-day long workshop on Friday.

Scheduled to be six-month long, the survey was to start on July 1 but was delayed as data collectors and statistical inspectors, under the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, were posted on government duty, said Vanajakshi, Deputy Director, NSS Division.

The surveys will be mainly used by the ministries of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Housing and Urban Affairs, Health and Family Welfare, the Niti Aayog, Unicef and WHO.

A data collector said they were given political duties and were relieved only a month ago. "The state government is not keen on the survey as it's a Central government project," the person said on the condition of anonymity.

Vanajakshi conceded that carrying out the survey would not be easy as there is not much time and that there are only 25 surveyors in Karnataka. As per Union government norms, Central and state teams will survey 410 villages each.

"People in urban areas are less cooperative in sharing data with surveyors compared with rural folks. It's even more difficult in BBMP limits," said K Narayana, Senior Director, Human Development Division, Planning, Programme Monitoring and Statistics Department.

What's the survey?

* The Drinking Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Housing Condition (DWSHHC) survey aims to examine and study different aspects of living conditions necessary for decent and healthy living of household members.

* Central and state teams will survey 200 villages and 210 urban blocks each.

* For the DWSHHC survey, 12 homes in each village will be chosen as a sample.

* For the Persons with Disabilities survey, 20 homes in each village will be chosen as a sample.