It has been found that more than 70 percent of urban slums in Rajasthan are on open spaces and public parks owned by local bodies. National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), in its latest report on 'Urban Slums in India', also highlighted the dismal living conditions of the people in these dwellings. The report, which was released in November 2014 is being used by policy makers and researchers.

In a per 1,000 distribution of slums by type of ownership of land, a total of 697 are on the land belonging to local bodies in Rajasthan, while the all-India average is 367. Even drains and nullahs are occupied by large slums as about 235 slums out of 1,000 are in these locations. Slums along the railway lines on the contrary are lower than most other states, and only 195 per 1,000 slums are found at such spots in the survey. NSSO conducted an all-India survey of rural and urban areas of the country under the 69th round of NSS during July-December 2012. The survey dwells upon drinking water, sanitation, hygiene and housing condition. A total of 476 slums per 1,000 have no toilets, while about 101 use dry pits. Similarly, slums with underground drainage were just 17, while most of them had open drainages, and there were no drainages in 379 slums.

Garbage collection, which is a larger problem in all urban areas, is a menace in slums. As per the survey report, 443 slums out of 1,000 had absolutely no garbage disposal facilities. In 352 slum households, garbage collection happens in three to seven days. Apart from that, other benefits like school and health centres, too, are at a distance from urban slums in the state. Rajasthan is the only state in the country where a distance of the nearest primary government school from an urban slum is more than 5 kms.