Aligning regional priorities with global and national goals: constraints on the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6 in rural Bihar, India

ABSTRACT To achieve United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 and for domestic reasons, the central government of India and several state governments are promoting aligned policies for universal access to sustainable and improved sanitation facilities. As most sanitation-related cross-sectional studies in India are national, this research examines the case of rural Bihar and identifies critical issues standing in the way of achievement of regional, national and international goals. The study reports four major constraints, which include the non-alignment of government and beneficiary perspectives, the absence of feedback loops, landlessness among marginalized communities, and inadequate engagement with environmental constraints in sanitation policies.