Do you own a mobile phone but not a toilet?

Half the country's population may not have a toilet at home but they are not without a mobile phone.

Bringing to light this feature of the population, Census 2011 data on houses, household amenities and assets released today said 49.8% Indian households defecate in open but in sharp contrast 63.2%households own a telephone connection, 53.2% of them a mobile.

The data reflected the controversial remarks of Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh who said recently that women demand mobile phones but they are not demanding toilets.

According to the Census figures released by Union Home Secretary R K Singh, only 46.9% of India's 24.66 crore households have a latrine facility while 49.8% go for open defecation and 3.2% people use public toilets. Jharkhand tops the list with 77% of households having no toilet facilities, followed by 76.6% people in Odisha and 75.8% population in Bihar.

Tele density is the highest in Lakshadweep where 93.6% households own a telephone set, followed by Delhi and Union Territory Chandigarh where 90.8% and 89.2% households respectively own telephone sets.

"Open defecation continues to be a big concern for the country as almost half of the population (49.8%) do it.

Cultural and traditional reasons and lack of education were the prime reasons for this unhygienic practice. We have to do a lot in these fronts," Registrar General and Census Commissioner C Chandramouli told reporters here.

Besides, 62.5% rural population continue to use fire-wood as fuel for cooking and 44.8% people's mode of transport is cycle while computer with internet facility has penetrated into country's just 3.1% population.

Television continues to be the biggest mode of entertainment with 47.2% households owning a set. Only 19.9% people own a radio or transistor.