Women scavengers from India walk the ramp at a UN meet

ADalit, branded as "untouchable" by birth, Laxmi Nanda's social status was compounded by her profession: transporting human waste. She belongs to the dalit "caste" that is at the very lowest rung of one of the world's oldest systems of social stratification. Latrine cleaners, who clean the waste out of non-flushing toilets are known as Bhanghis – scavengers. "On the second day of my marriage, my mother-in-law handed be a broom and told me to go clean out the neighbor's toilet," Nanda said in an interview with the media. "When I refused and said it was dirty, my mother-in-law said, ‘What are you, some kind of queen?" Nanda was 18 years old at the time. It was the first day of a career marked by long days, scant wages and the unremitting taint of the unclean. "Even when I'd washed myself, to others, I was always dirty," Nanda said.

Discrimination based on caste was officially banned by the Indian constitution in 1950. But it pervades almost every sector of life, from segregated housing to all but prescribed professions to healthcare and education systems that, for Dalits, are routinely denied. Its rigid boundaries are upheld by the tacit threat of violence and government officials and police often turn a blind eye even occasionally participating in violence against those who dare to overstep their caste-stipulated roles.

Laxmi Nanda, along with 36 other former latrine cleaners, all dressed in a dizzyingly blue sari, walked down a New York runway side by side with leading fashion models, during a unique event at the United Nations. Together with the Indian NGO Sulabh, the women traveled halfway round the world to initiate the "Year of Sanitation" at the United Nations headquarters. The event at the UN headquarters was jointly promoted by the United Nation's NGO IRENE Network and Sulabh International Social Service Organization for the High Level Segment of ECOSOC in observance of the International Year of Sanitation' 08.

Laxmi Nanda, one of the 36 Indian women - liberated not more than four years ago from the century old practice of manually cleaning human excreta in the remotest part of the western India - cat walked with prominent models of international repute, in the presence of representatives from more than 150 countries at United Nations headquarters on July 2.

These women represent more than 60,000 former sanitation workers rescued by Sulabh International Social Service Organization who now have other means of livelihood. They were in New York to participate in a series of events being organized at the United Nation's the Trusteeship council to mark the International Year of Sanitation.

"It's a huge undertaking," said Vijay Nambiar, chief of staff to Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general at the panel discussion. "But we must raise awareness of sanitation with special attention to the privacy, dignity and security of women." Though the message was somber, the mood turned light after guests adjourned to the Delegates Dining Room, which provided views of a twinkling Queens.

Sulabh's vice-president Anita Jah said that the fashion-show was not just about showcasing clothing. "It's about showing the world – and the women themselves – that they are not untouchables. Here they are in a very public spotlight." Sulabh's broader mission of affordable, democratic sanitation was also on display. Pathak said: "This is for the first time that these people are being brought to the forefront. This is to spread a message to the entire world that they are not untouchables, they too have a life." He observed that Mahatma Gandhi wanted to remove manual scavenging and bring scavengers to the national mainstream and the UN honor to the 36 former scavengers was fulfillment of his dream.

Dr. Pathak said that the program by these liberated scavenger women at UN headquarters is a symbol about the liberation of century old scavenging practice in India. Probably this is the first time in the history of UN when a group of former scavengers, flown all the way to US, shared the ramp while walking along with top fashion models in traditional couture. It is important to note that these liberated scavengers have themselves stitched clothes for the fashion models under the guidance of famous Indian designer Abdul Haldar.

Founder of Sulabh Movement, Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, who introduced modern public toilets in India, helped transform the lives of these women through various programs that ensured better means of livelihood like embroidery and making noodles and pickles.

Mahatma Gandhi once called sanitation more important than independence but for about a third of the word's population, it is out of reach. In its absence, water-borne diseases are rampant, killing an estimated five million people each year. Sulabh intends to radically change the landscape of India's sanitation system, beginning with its toilets.

"We want to make basic flush toilets cheap and available across the country," Jah said. Over ten million people across India now use Sulabh's Twin Pit Composting Toilet, which effectively composts waste and renders the excess safe for manual disposal once every 18 months. It relies on neither a sewage system nor a septic tank.

Sulabh also intends to extend its toilets' reach, implementing the model in developing countries such as Afghanistan, the country named by the 2007 State of the World's Toilets report "the worst place in the world for sanitation", with 92 percent of the population lacking access to basic sanitation. Already, one thousand Sulabh toilets have been built in Kabul.

The Sulabh International Social Service Organization founded in the year 1970 is the largest nationally and internationally recognized pan-India social service. It has developed a scavenging-free two-pit pour flush toilet (Sulabh Shauchalaya); safe and hygienic on-site human waste disposal technology; a new concept of maintenance and construction of pay-& use public toilets, popularly known as Sulabh Complexes with bath, laundry and urinal facilities being used by about ten million people every day and generation of biogas and biofertiliser produced from excreta-based plants, low maintenance waste water treatment plants of medium capacity for institutions and industries.

The United Nations Centre for Human Settlements has recognised Sulabh's cost-effective and appropriate sanitation system as a global ‘Urban Best Practice' at the Habitat-II conference held at Istanbul (Turkey), in June, 1996. The Economic and Social Council of United Nations has granted Special Consultative Status to Sulabh in recognition of its outstanding service to mankind.

A combined Sulabh action plan on human waste disposal and social reforms has provided jobs directly to 60,000 people and has created 10 Million man-days, making 240 towns scavenging free. These technologies, innovations and methodologies are sustainable, replicable and affordable and they are recommended by the WHO, World Bank / UNDP etc. for adoption in all Third World countries. While giving shape to its dream projects, Sulabh has established coordination with various national and international agencies, including British Council, USAID, BORDA, a German organisation, Commission of European Union, Belgium, GERES, France, CEEIC, HRIEE, China and Haskoning and Euroconsult, a Dutch firm. Sulabh's is a major initiative towards setting up a clean living environment, making possible a good and productive community life in a new and discrimination-free social order.

Meanwhile, Sulabh continues to work with former latrine cleaners, providing vocational training, education and futures free of stigma. The effects on Nanda's life have already been profound. "My family is happy for me," she said. "They say, ‘At least you got out of this life."

- BY AJAY GOSH