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Why it's easier for India to get to Mars than to tackle its toilet challenge Public toilets in the city of Varanasi in India. Jorge Royan , CC BY-SA Shyama V. Ramani , United Nations University In 2013, India became the fourth country in the world (after Russia, the United States and the European Union) and the only emerging nation to launch a Mars probe into space. But it remains part of the group of 45 developing countries with less than 50% sanitation coverage , with many citizens practising open defecation, either due to lack of access to a toilet or because of personal preference. According to the Indian census of 2011 , only 46.9% of the 246.6 million households in India had their own toilet facilities, while 3.2% had access to public toilets. In this context, the remaining 49.8% households had no option but to defecate in the open. As a point of comparison, in 2011 53.2% of households had a mobile phone . In rural areas, whe...