About 44% of the rural households in the Scheduled Tribe areas in the country are yet to get tap water connection, according to government data.
Responding to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Jal Shakti Prahlad Singh Patel said 1.2 crore out of 2.17 crore (55.3%) rural tribal households have tap water connection.
According to data, the States where more than half the rural tribal households are yet to get tap water connection are Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal, the minister said.