Sulabh International is an

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

-based social service organization that works to promote

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

, environmental sanitation, non-conventional sources of energy,

waste management Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, together with monitorin ...

and social reforms through education. The organization counts 50,000 volunteers. Sulabh International is the largest nonprofit organization in India.

History

Sulabh was founded by

Bindeshwar Pathak Bindeshwar Pathak is an Indian sociologist and social entrepreneur. He is the founder of Sulabh International, an India-based social service organisation which works to promote human rights, environmental sanitation, non-conventional sources ...

from Bihar State in 1970, and have 50,000 volunteers Innovations include a scavenging-free two-pit pourflush toilet (''Sulabh Shauchalaya''); safe and hygienic on-site human waste disposal technology; a new concept of maintenance and construction of pay-&-use

public toilet A public toilet, restroom, public bathroom or washroom is a room or small building with toilets (or urinals) and sinks for use by the general public. The facilities are available to customers, travelers, employees of a business, school pupils ...

s, popularly known as Sulabh Complexes with bath, laundry and urinal facilities being used by about ten million people every day and generates bio-gas and

biofertilizer A biofertilizer is a substance which contains living micro-organisms which, when applied to seeds, plant surfaces, or soil, colonize the rhizosphere or the interior of the plant and promotes growth by increasing the supply or availability of prim ...

produced from

excreta Excretion is a process in which metabolic waste is eliminated from an organism. In vertebrates this is primarily carried out by the lungs, kidneys, and skin. This is in contrast with secretion, where the substance may have specific tasks after lea ...

-based plants, low maintenance waste water treatment plants of medium capacity for institutions and industries. Other work includes setting up English-medium public school in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

and also a network of centres all over the country to train boys and girls from poor families, specially scavengers, so that they can compete in open job market.

Institution

The

United Nations Centre for Human Settlements The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is the United Nations programme for human settlements and sustainable urban development. It was established in 1977 as an outcome of the first United Nations Conference on Human Settlem ...

has praised Sulabh's sanitation system as a global "Urban Best Practice" at the Habitat-II conference held at

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

, Turkey, in June 1996. The Economic and Social Council of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

granted

Special Consultative Status The consultative status is a phrase whose use can be traced to the founding of the United Nations and is used within the UN community to refer to "Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Soc ...

to Sulabh in recognition of its work. Sulabh claims their plan on human waste disposal and social reforms has provided jobs directly to 35,000 people, and has created 10,000,000 (1 crore) man-days, making 240 towns scavenging free. Sulabh has established coordination with various national and international agencies, including

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...

, BORDA, a German organisation, Commission of

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, GERES,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, CEEIC, HRIEE, China and Haskoning and Euroconsult, a Dutch firm. Sulabh found mention in page 124 of the

Human Development Index The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistic composite index of life expectancy, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income indicators, wh ...

report for 2006. Sulabh was commended for bringing sanitation to the poor in India. In October 2007, Sulabh announced the design of a cheap toilet system that

recycle Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...

s human waste into

biogas Biogas is a mixture of gases, primarily consisting of methane, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide, produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste and food waste. It is a ...

and

fertilizer A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...

. Pathak has been conferred with the 2009

Stockholm Water Prize Presented annually since 1991, the Stockholm Water Prize is an award that recognizes outstanding achievements in water related activities. Over the past three decades, Stockholm Water Prize Laureates have come from across the world and represente ...

for his contributions towards his work. Sulabh International awarded

Gandhi Peace Prize The International Gandhi Peace Prize, named after Mahatma Gandhi, is awarded annually by the Government of India. As a tribute to the ideals espoused by Gandhi, the Government of India launched the International Gandhi Peace Prize in 1995 on t ...

for year 2016 jointly with Akshaya Patra Foundation in 2019.

Sulabh International Museum of Toilets

In Sulabh International's premises in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

, the company runs a museum dedicated to the history of sanitation and toilets.

Criticism

The organization has been criticised by Mukul Sharma in his book ''Caste and Nature: Dalits and Indian Environmental Politics'' (2017). Sharma writes that the Brahmin and Gandhian activist Bindeshwar Pathak employs patronising and glorifying methods while dealing with caste based occupation like manual scavenging and sanitation work in general.

References

External links

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Sulabh International

Energy International - NGO which constructs sulabh shauchalaya in rural and urban areas internationally

Film on Sulabh: Scavenging Freedom, includes interview with founder
Total Running Time: 43 mins
Nai Disha: Film on Scavengers of Alwar
Total Running Time: 7 mins
The Sanitary Visionary and Me (a profile of Sulabh and Bindeshwar Pathak)
{{Gandhi Peace Prize laureates Waste organizations Water supply and sanitation in India Environmental organisations based in India Recipients of the Gandhi Peace Prize