Moa Jamir
DES report raises troubling socio-economic questions in Nagaland
Nagaland’s latest socio-economic survey may have drawn attention primarily for exposing widening income inequality, but the findings of the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Nagaland (DES) raise equally important questions beyond household earnings. The Report on Income Disparity in Nagaland 2025 highlighted a Gini coefficient of 0.46, signalling high income inequality, but other parameters in the report also reveal gaps in access to basic services.
Among them is the sanitation reality. Despite Nagaland having officially declared itself Open Defecation Free (ODF) in rural areas in 2018 and urban areas in 2019, open defecation persists in pockets of the State. While the survey found that only around 0.29% of households in Nagaland still practice open defecation, district-level data show that the figure reaches 4.69% in Longleng, followed by 2.4% in Dimapur.
Moreover, “flush to sewer” systems were as high as 34.38% in Longleng, while pit latrines remained common in several districts. On a positive note, except in Kiphire, Longleng, and Mon, usage of “flush to septic tank” systems ranged from 66.35% in Peren to 92.92% in Dimapur.
Yet the more pressing concern lies in water access, an essential requirement for ODF sustainability. The DES survey found that only 24% of households in Nagaland have drinking water available within their own dwelling, while another 44.86% access water within their yard.
However, as many as 31.14% of households across the State still depend on water sources located “elsewhere,” outside both the home and immediate premises. The rural picture is even more concerning with 34.89% or more than one-third still sourcing drinking water from elsewhere.
District-level disparities was even more stark, with staggering 95.97% of households in Kiphire depending on “elsewhere” for drinking water, followed by Kohima followed at 57% and Mokokchung reported 53.93%. In most other districts, the share remained above 20%. Only Dimapur and Wokha reported dependence on outside water sources below 10%.
The link between sanitation and water is not abstract. A toilet may exist physically, but without reliable water access, sustainability of ODF initiative remains challenging, to say the least. The water access data also raises important questions about the last-mile reach of the Union Government flagship scheme Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM)aimed at providing functional household tap connections to every rural household.
While the survey covered 4,396 households across 60 urban wards and 140 rural villages, as a scientifically designed socio-economic exercise, it offers a credible basis for understanding broader State-level trends and policy gaps.
Other indicators offer another social lens. For instance, only 29.7% of respondents were living in pucca houses, while 32.06% stayed in kutcha houses and 38.24% in semi-pucca houses. Meanwhile, out of the 12,222 respondents, the largest groups were students (29.54%) and farmers (27.34%), followed by housewives (13.54%), job seekers (8.19%), Daily wage earners (4.78%) private employment or self-employment (4.44%). Only 7.35% were Government Employee and 7.7% were pensioners. The figures reflect large segment population dependent on agriculture, informal work, unpaid domestic labour, or is still economically inactive.
Accordingly, the socio-economic questions raised by the report extend far beyond income disparity. The real question is whether policymakers in the State are seriously engaging with their own departmental findings, or whether it is just another routine statistical documentation.
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