Bindeshwar Pathak, the man who made toilets a part of public discourse in India, breathed his last in New Delhi on Tuesday following a cardiac arrest.
Pathak founded Sulabh International in 1970 and became synonymous with public toilets and activism against open defecation in no time. He came to be known as “Toilet Man of India”.
He shared once that his father-in-law ridiculed him for his work saying his daughter’s life has been ruined as he cannot tell anyone what his son-in-law did for a living. Pathak is survived his wife, two daughters and a son.
Born in a Brahmin family in village Rampur Baghel in Vaishali district of Bihar, Pathak joined the Bhangi-Mukti (scavengers’ liberation) cell of the Bihar Gandhi Centenary Celebrations Committee in 1968 and he was intimately exposed to the problems of scavengers in India.
He found his calling when he travelled the country and stayed with manual scavengers as part of his PhD thesis.
With an aim to promote human rights, environmental sanitation, non-conventional sources of energy, waste management and social reforms through education, Pathak established the Sulabh International Social Service Organisation in 1970.
Designs pioneered by Pathak three decades ago of creating biogas by linking Sulabh toilets to fermentation plants, has now become a byword for sanitation in developing countries all over the world.
One of the distinctive feature of Pathak’s project lies in the fact that besides producing odour-free bio-gas, it also releases clean water rich in phosphorus and other ingredients which are important constituents of organic manure. His sanitation movement ensures cleanliness and prevents greenhouse gas emission. This technology is now being extended to South Africa to bring these facilities to rural communities.
Pathak is a recipient of Padma Bhushan, the Energy Globe Award, the Dubai International Award for Best Practices, the Stockholm Water Prize, the Legend of Planet award from the French senate in Paris, among others.