India’s Toilet King

<% response.write blurb %>

King Louis XIII didn’t like his important meetings to be interrupted by personal intestinal requirements. The solution: a toilet fitted under his throne. This allowed the 17th century French king to grant audiences and conduct the important business of state, while simultaneously attending to his personal needs.

“While the king preferred to eat in privacy, he chose to ease himself in public,” noted a member of his court.

A replica of Louis XIII’s specially outfitted throne is just one of the many quirky and amusing lavatory-related exhibits at the Sulabh International Museum of Toilets on the outskirts of New Delhi.

The museum is a lot of fun, but its message is serious. Founder Bindeshwar Pathak has been working to improve sanitation in India for more than four decades. The 65-year-old Indian social activist is a scholar and a consultant of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Mr. Pathak’s nongovernment organization— Sulabh International, which he founded in 1970—has taken a leading role in addressing sanitation-related issues across India. He is this year’s Stockholm Water Prize Laureate, a prestigious global award that recognizes outstanding achievements in water-related activities.

Inspired by the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi, Mr. Pathak’s social reform and environmental movement addresses sanitation-related issues related to defecation in the open and the use of bucket toilets in India.

Mr. Pathak has established clean toilet complexes across the country, and has worked extensively to help the “scavengers,” as they are known, who have done the degrading work of emptying household toilets in the country for years. His vocational training institutes help former scavengers learn skills that can bring them dignified work.

“The idea is to mainstream these underprivileged people by giving them a livelihood and a life of dignity,” says Mr. Pathak, who adds that his group’s efforts target “the worst victims of institutionalized caste discrimination.”

The widespread problem of open defecation in India, says the reformer, remains a grim one even after six decades of the country’s independence from British rulers. “Women, especially,” he says, “have to suffer a lot due to nonavailability of toilets.”

Currently, says Mr. Pathak, 110 million Indian households have no toilets, while 10 million houses have bucket toilets, which trigger diseases. “The situation is so appalling that about half a million children die every year due to dehydration caused by open defecation,” he says. “It is here that our movement to build public toilets accessible to all serves a social purpose.”

Mr. Pathak’s team has developed a twinpit composting pour-flush toilet for individual households as an alternative to the cost-prohibitive sewerage or septic tankbased systems. This works well for a country like India as the Sulabh technology is affordable, eco-friendly, and culturally acceptable.

This technology, he says, operates an on-site human waste disposal facility that requires minimal water for flushing and does not need to be emptied by scavengers. “We have converted more than a million household toilets into Sulabh Shauchalayas, liberating nearly 120,000 scavengers,” says Mr. Pathak.

Sulabh’s technology has been declared as one of the global best practices by UN-HABITAT/UNCHS (United Nations Center for Human Settlements) and recognized by various national and international agencies. The United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Human Development Report has recommended its use for the 2.6 billion people worldwide who have no access to an improved sanitation facility.

Mr. Pathak has also developed a unique technology for recycling human excreta from public toilets that is maintained on a pay-and-use basis by Sulabh. In this technology, biogas is produced and channeled for cooking and light and electricity generation. Biogas plant effluent is treated by a simple method to make it colorless, odorless, and pathogen-free, making it safe for reuse or discharge into rivers or any water body.

The biogas plants can be installed in housing areas and high-rise buildings, as well as other areas not served by sewers. These facilities—used daily by 10 million people—have substantially improved the environment both in the urban and rural areas of India.

Mr. Pathak has also developed a technology that allows biodegradable organic waste to degrade in 10 days. The income generated by the public toilets is used for socially useful activities like running Sulabh’s vocational training centers, which cater to the needs of scavengers. It is also used to promote health awareness among slum dwellers.

Explains Mr. Pathak: “We have combined technology with a social purpose and a human face. As a result, our crusade of sanitation has been converted into a movement without social resistance. It has helped to enrich and empower the underprivileged, improve community health, and the environment.”

Sulabh International has been asked to share its expertise in sanitation with countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America. The group coordinates with international agencies such as the British Council, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the European Union. The United Nations has granted Special Consultative Status to Sulabh in recognition of its work on human waste disposal and social reforms that provide jobs directly to 35,000 people.

However, Mr. Pathak’s most vital contribution remains his relentless campaign to abolish the abhorrent practice of manual scavenging of human waste in India. As a champion of the rights of former scavengers, he has introduced them to a life of economic opportunity and social dignity. In India’s caste-ridden social framework, this is no mean feat.

The establishment of the Sulabh International Museum of Toilets in 1992 has been a sideline activity to this important work. The museum—possibly the only one of its kind in the world—has emerged as a magnet for tourists, researchers, and visiting foreign dignitaries. It has been an important tool in highlighting sanitation issues in India and around the world.

Says Mr. Pathak: “The toilet museum has truly been a labor of love for me.” •