Slippage is one of the main bottlenecks of achieving full coverage of water and sanitation services in India. Slippage is the term often used to reflect unsustainable service delivery of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services, especially in rural areas. Off late
slippage is attracting attention at the policy level though slippage is as old as the coverage of water supply services. This paper makes an attempt to identify the causes of slippage in a systematic manner. The broad objectives of the paper include: assess the extent of
slippage at the national and state level; identify the causes of slippage at various levels; and provide some pointers for policy based on the analysis.