323.1 91MA MAN AND HIS MISSION Padma Bhushan Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak 132-3-1 - MAN AND HIS MISSION X may not be born again, but if it happens I will like to be born in a family of scavengers, so that I may relieve them of the inhuman, unhealthy and hateful practice of carrying nightsoil.99 Sanitation in India is not only cleanliness; it is also an end to the humiliation and miseries of scavengers who carry human excreta on the head. INDIRA GANDHI This book is dedicated to the memory of our late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi whose intervention removed the bottlenecks in the Bihar scavengers' liberation programme which later became a massive voluntary social movement unmatched by any launched so far. SULABH INTERNATIONAL The President of India, Mr. R. Venkataraman, with Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Nov. 11,1988. Dr. Pathak called on the President after his visit to Nathdwara temple. Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak called on the Vice- President, Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma, in New Delhi on Nov. 5.1988, after his visit to Nathdwara temple. PADMA BHUSHAN The President of Indian Republic, Mr. R. Venkataraman, awarded Padma Bhushan to Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak on March 23, 1991 at an impressive investiture ceremony in Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan for his social services to scavengers , more than 30.000 of whom have been made free from the demeaning practice of cleaning and carrying human excreta as headload. The President has also recognised Dr. Pathak's contributions in the social upgradation, training and rehabilitation of liberated scavengers, so also in preventing environmental pollution by providing a pour-flush water-seal Sulabh technology which is an alternative to manually serviced dry latrines. This is the first national recognition of this order, indicating the Government priority to abolishing scavenging in India, once for all. Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar discussing Sulabh projects with Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak in New Delhi on Nov. 25, 1990. Mr, Chandra Shekhar, asked the Founder, Sulabh International, Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, to set up Sulabh facilities at all places of public gatherings, so also in villages in order to save the people, specially women, from the indignity of open defecation. The then Prime Minister, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, with sons and daughters of liberated scavengers who called on him on Nov. 8,1988. in New Delhi after their visit to Nathdwara temple. VIGYAN GAON-KI-ORE : The then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, with Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, visited a Sulabh stall on March 4, 1989. The stall was put up in an exhibition-cum fete, named 'Vigyan Gaon-Ki- Ore' (science towards village) organised by the Kamla Nehru Institute of Technology at Gauriganj, near Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. The exhibition was held between March 4-15. The objective was to educate villagers on the latest innovations in the science related to rural development. »•;;•• m Dr. Pathak explaining Mr. Jagjivan Ram, former Union Minister of Defence, his Plan for liberating scavengers at a meeting in New Delhi on September 13, 1978. FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Mr. William J. Cousins, Programme Adviser, South-Central Asia, UNICEF, Mr. Karpoori Thakur. former Bihar Chief Minister and Mrs. Sumitra Devi, Minister, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering Department, at a Patna seminar in 1978. Mr. Sikandar Bakht, former Union Minister of Works. Housing, Supply and Rehabilitation and Wakfs. visiting a Sulabh complex in a Patna slum area. RAIN BASERA : The Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr. Sunderlal Patwa, inaugurating in Bhopal a Rain Basera (Night Shelter) constructed and maintained by Sulabh International. The night shelter provides clean and almost free lodging facilities for visitors. Alongwith Mr. Patwa is Mr. P.C. Pathak, Vice- Chairman, Madhya Pradesh Branch of Sulabh International. i: - : • - • J Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak with Mr. Jaya Prakash Narayan and Mr. Jagjivan Ram at Kadam Kuan in Patna. The distance is long and Day is short; Let us hurry home, travellers, before, Sundown: Target to liberate all scavengers In the country is still too far Away and, hence, We have to speed up work: Scavengers and their families Look to us for their salvation: Let us not disappoint them, or else, MASS OATH AT RAJGHAT ON GANDHI We shall be accountable to JAYANTI : Every year, Sulabh International History and future generations. renews the pledge to liberate scavengers. — Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak NOT BY CITIES ALONE : Mr. Devi Lai, Deputy Prime Minister of India known for his rural preferences, said at a meeting with Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, Founder, Sulabh InternationaUhat Sulabh must move faster into villages to ensure that there is no open defecation which is specially humiliating for women. This crucial meeting gave a decisive rural thrust to Sulabh Movement in India. A DREAM COME TRUE : Dr. Mulk Raj Anand, who wrote "Untouchable" in 1927 on the inspiration of Mahatma Gandhi at his Ashram, visiting a Stllabh toilet complex in New Delhi only to find that his dream has come true. For, he had thought of a pour- flush toilet system in the late 20s which would need no scavengers to clean. Dr. Anand is the first litterateur who raised the conscience of mankind against this inhuman system which has been movingly described in his world famous novel. On finding that the day is not distant when the last among scavengers will be freed through Sulabh technology. Dr. Anand compared Dr. Pathak with Abraham Lincoln. "Both are great liberators". Dr. Anand said with satisfaction which comes after a mission is fulfilled. First Edition : 1991 Published by Sulabh International CONTENTS PREFACE (XVII) MAN AND HIS MISSION • Liberation of scavengers 3 • Training and rehabilitation of liberated scavengers 5 • Social upgradation of scavengers 6 • Dignity of labour 8 • Brahmins in sanitation movement 9 • New concept of maintenance of public toilets and baths 9 in India • Improvement of health, hygiene and environment 12 • Use of public toilets with human dignity 12 • Prestige to toilets 13 • Biogas and manure from human excreta and water hyacinth 14 • Human resource development, rural sanitation and rural development 16 • Poverty alleviation through employment generation 18 • Voluntary social organisation as a catalyst 19 • Confidence of the government in the voluntary social organisations 20 • Funding of low-cost sanitation by HUDCO and World Bank 21 • Involvement of the voluntary social organisations both in the software and hardware 22 • Dr. Pathak as an Action Sociologist 23 • Visits to foreign countries 25 • Recognition of Sulabh International by government and other agencies for programme implementation 28 APPRECIATION AND ACCEPTANCE OF SULABH TECHNOLOGY AND METHODOLOGY BY NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES National Agencies • Planning Commission 30 • University Grants Commission 30 • Lai Bahadur Shastri Academy, Mussoorie 30 International Agencies World Health Organisation 30 UNICEF 31 UNDP (World Bank) 32 United National Centre for Human Settlement, Nairobi 33 International Water & Sanitation Centre 33 Loughbourough University of Technology, U. K. 33 Media focus (BBC, Indian Television, AIR etc.) 34 Participation in committees 34 Participation in Seminars and conferences 35 Seminars and workshops organised by Dr. Pathak 36 Books, articles and papers by Dr. Pathak 37 Padma Bhushan Award Goenka Award 40 OPINION OF THE PRESS • Less demeaning work and gains in sanitation (The New York Times) 41 • Untouchables gain the help of a Brahmin (The New York Times International) 43 • Scavenger class still does India's dirtiest job (The Washington Post) 45 • Gandhiariway to make Patna Clean (The Times of India, New Delhi) 48 • Electricity from human excreta (The Times of India, New Delhi) 52 • Sulabh's work to better bhangis' lot (The Times of India, Lucknow) 54 • A convenience to solve human-waste problem (The Hindustan Times, New Delhi) 57 • UN body praises Sulabh work (The Hindustan Times, New Delhi) 58 • Plea to check urban decay (The Hindustan Times, New Delhi) 60 • Quota for scavengers urged (The Hindustan Times, New Delhi) 61 • An interview; Dr. Pathak, a redeemer (The Hindustan Times, New Delhi) 62 • PM keen to promote rural sanitation (The Hindustan Times, New Delhi) 65 • New Strategy urged to end scavenging (The Hindustan Times, New Delhi) 66 • Two biogas — linked toilet complexes (Indian Express) 67 • Dr. Ambedkar lauded as a great redeemer • Continuing disgrace (Indian Express, New Delhi) 69 • Patna firm to tackle a Calcutta problem (The Sunday Statesman ) 71 • Wondrous waste (The Telegraph) 73 • Toilet for the commons (Decan Herald) 75 • Poor man's toilet (Sunday Herald) 77 • Sulabh technology becoming popular (The Pioneer, Lucknow) 81 • For scavenger-less society (Mid-day) 83 • A clean revolution (India Today) 87 • The countdown has begun! (Health for all by the year 2000) 89 • Low-cost sanitation project in Bihar, India (UNCHS) 93 • Habitat Feature-ASIA 101 • Cheap toilets for better hygiene (Depth News India) 104 • Solving Patna's sanitation problems (Small Voice) 108 • UNDP appreciates Sulabh's work 109 • UNICEF praises Sulabh role 111 VIEWS OF THE PEOPLE 113 126 SOME SAMPLE ARTICLES BY DR. PATHAK DR. PATHAK AS A WRITER Problem of scavenging and its solution 127 Abolish scavenging, here and now 131 Untouchability : defying solution 136 Caste is their only crime 139 My journey to Nathdwara 144 Sanitation : Low-cost solution 149 Rural sanitation 154 Urban sanitation 156 Preventation of environmental pollution through low-cost sanitation 158 Human-waste-fed biogas plants : Implementation strategies 162 What is ecosystem? 167 The Ganga, a beauty forever 169 The urban decay 170 The Gandhian alternative 173 Nehru — a legend that lives on 177 Nehru is a slogan now 181 Not by violence at all 182 No revolutionary recipe for religious reforms 185 Decline of legislature 188 Key-hole reporting 193 Sulabh International — the beginning 194 Development of low-cost sanitation in India 202 PREFACE amous mathematician of Syracuse, Archimedes, (287-212 B.C.) plunged F into his bathtub as most of us do now.