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Dr. Bindeswari Pathak,
Founder - Sulabh International. |
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Changing the Lives
The World Toilet Conference held in Delhi in first week of November 2007 was a unique event. It focused on a crucial aspect of our lives- water & sanitation management. We, the urban dwellers, normally ignore how significant sanitation is for rural population & urban slums.
Covering the event for India Water Portal, Anand Vijay Singh caught up with Dr Bindeshwari Pathak, the indefatigable crusader on a single-focus mission for the last 35 years- to make toilets and sanitation accessible to all.
Dr Pathak has been instrumental in organizing this conference: A conclave of policy makers, decision makers, architects & sanitary material manufacturers to discuss & highlight the need of making affordable, convenient and indigenous sanitation available to all. He notes that the present system of sanitation is water-intensive & therefore not suitable for many places in the country.
Dr Pathak is also founder of the Sulabh International, a pioneering NGO dedicated to bringing affordable sanitation to all. It also aims to bring scavengers into the mainstream and utilize human excreta for producing non-conventional sources of energy. Dr Pathak is also credited with introducing the concept of pay-and-use public toilets: the "Sulabh Complexes". This movement has a footprint presence in more than 1000 towns and cities in India.
Dr Pathak, tell us about the origins of sanitation technology. How did it develop, and the various concomitant issues you faced while making sanitation available to all?
This movement - of bringing sanitation to all, as compared to the other social reform movements - was difficult to implement because of the lack of available technology and know-how. The system of open defecation existed historically. With the passage of time, the manual cleaning of human excreta also started. Both systems were found during Indian history beginning from the Buddha Period, Maurya age, Mughals up to the British Period.
During the British period the British tried to solve this problem by bringing two technologies- the septic tank, developed in London in 1596, and the sewer, developed in 1850. London was the first city where sewers were laid in 1850, followed by New York in 1860, and Calcutta in 1870. Incidentally, in 2007 only 232 towns in India are sewer based towns - that too only partially- out of 5000 towns.
It also proves that with existing technologies neither the defecation nor the manual cleaning can be stopped.
Lack of sanitation has not remained a mere water management issue; it has also acquired social undertones.
Right. Gandhiji was the first person drawn to the plight of scavengers and their sanitary conditions. During the Calcutta Congress conference in 1901 he asked volunteers to clean the toilets. They refused. Then Gandhiji started doing it himself, and then the people followed. Till Gandhi was alive no scavenger was allowed to clean the toilets - only the volunteers did it. In 1917, Gandhiji took scavengers to Godhra temple for the first time. He also had a scavenger live in the ashram to show the nation that the prestige of a scavenger is second to none. He said "If I were to be born again, I would like to be born in a family of scavengers so that I could help relieve them of their sub-human condition". He was the first one to suggest laying soil on excreta. However, during Gandhi’s lifetime nothing much could be done.
After his death, there were many committees formed. The most significant among them was Malkani Committee in 1957, which submitted the report in 1960. This committee discussed the pathetic conditions of the scavengers but did not come out with any concrete suggestion to reform this.
You have been working tirelessly since the last 35 years for this cause. What was your "Eureka Moment", when you discovered your true calling?
It occurred when I joined the Bihar Gandhi Centenary Celebrations Committee. I wanted to be a lecturer, however, I did not secure good marks in Graduation. I became a school teacher in Vaishali for 6 months. Then I worked in Patratu thermal power station at 5 rupees per day. There I got an opportunity to work with the Bihar Gandhi Centenary Celebrations Committee, where I was given a task to find out an alternative to scavengers and to restore their dignity. I went and lived in a colony of scavengers in a village in Betiah for 3 months. There I came across a newly wed girl who was forced to clean the toilet by her family and in laws. That was the turning point in my life.
Tell us about the genesis of this conference, the World Toilet Conference.
In the Johannesburg Earth Summit 2002, it was submitted that 2.6 million people across the world do not have access to adequate, safe and hygienic toilets. They targeted to provide at least half of this population access to proper sanitary conditions and toilets by 2015 and access to all by 2020. It stuck me that we must create a forum to discuss and attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s).
Why is the existing technology in the field of sanitation not adequate to achieve the MDGs?
The present technology of sewage and septic tank technology is not adequate as it requires heavy construction. The consumption of water is also too much, which makes it unsuitable for India. It is not scalable either. This surely does not suffice to attain the MDGs.
What are the challenges that you face to make it a mass movement?
First challenge is technological. We need indigenous and culturally acceptable technology. Second, we need missionaries to carry this to masses. Third is formulating adequate policy. Fourth is Finance. The amount budgeted in the central and the State budget is not sufficient. Banks should lend money to the missionaries - who work as agents of change and not as temporary social workers, who work only for 6 to 12 months and then quit.
How far you have been able to meet the need of creating missionaries?
Well, we have been able to change the thought and behavior of people. When I started nobody talked about the toilets. There is a change in attitude now. However, more training and finance are required. I have stressed the fact that when these agents of change visit banks, they should not be denied loans to carry out this purpose.
What are the indices of change that you want to see - that would indicate that this movement has been more widely acceptable?
Yesterday at the inaugural function, a lady was sitting with our ex- president. Earlier she was a Scavenger. I consider it a great indicator of change. It is not that you just give money and move on - these people have to be brought into mainstream society. Social acceptability is more important - common dining, access to temples and ponds, drawing water from wells etc. These Social Indicators are more important than Economic and Fiscal Indicators.
Your water & sanitation journey is 35 years old. At this age what keeps you going?
Success keeps me going.
31st October,
New Delhi,
Anand Vijay Singh.
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