Table of Contents
HUMANIST
- Bindeshwar Pathak is an Indian sociologist. He is the founder of Sulabh International, an India-based social service organization which works to promote human rights, environmental sanitation, non-conventional sources of energy, waste management and social reforms through education.
- He is the Brand Ambassador for Swachh Rail Mission of Indian Railways
MANUAL SCAVENGING
- Through this technology all scavengers in India can be liberated from the task of cleaning the 13 million bucket privies manually and 700 million people in India who go for open defecation due to lack of toilet facility, can have toilets in their houses.
- Dr. Pathak is the first person in India who has got constructed more than 7,500 public toilets in slums and at public, religious and tourist places and maintained them on a pay-and-use basis, without putting a burden on the public exchequer. More than 10 million people are using these facilities daily
BIOGAS
- 60 biogas plants based on human excreta have been installed. These can be installed in housing colonies, high-rise buildings and public toilets. If there is no sewer in such areas, the toilets should be connected to a biogas digester and not to a septic tank.
- Bindeshwar Pathak graduated in Sociology in 1964. He earned his master’s degree in 1980 and his PhD in 1985, from the University of Patna.
- A prolific writer and speaker, Dr. Pathak has authored several books, the most well-known of which is The Road to Freedom, and is a frequent participant in conferences on sanitation, health and social progress around the world.
SULABH INTERNATIONAL
- He first came to understand the plight of scavengers in 1968 when he joined the Bhangi-Mukti (scavengers’ liberation) Cell of the Bihar Gandhi Centenary Celebrations Committee.
- He resolved to take action, not only out of sympathy for the scavengers but also in the belief that scavenging is a dehumanising practice that would ultimately have a destructive impact on modern Indian society.
- He established the Sulabh International Social Service Organization in 1970, combining technical innovation with humanitarian principles.
SULABH INTERNATIONAL
- The organization works to promote human rights, environmental sanitation, non-conventional sources of energy, waste management and social reforms through education.
- The organization counts 50,000 volunteers. He has made innovative use of biogas creation by linking Sulabh toilets to fermentation plants.