Sulabh founder to address Cambridge University students
January 20th, 2011 - 11:57 am ICT by IANSLondon, Jan 20 (IANS) An Indian social activist campaigning for the rehabilitation of manual scavengers has been invited to interact with the students of Cambridge University.Bindeshwar Pathak, the founder of Sulabh International, will share his views on the issue of human rights and his experience while campaigning against the practice of manual scavenging in various parts of India. The lecture will be held Friday.
“The students would be thrilled to hear about his role in the promotion of human rights, environmental sanitation and alternative energy resources,” the president of the Cambridge Union Society, Lauren Davidson, said.
With his innovation of low-cost safety toilets and its implication in generating bio-gas fuel, Pathak has helped in rescue and rehabilitation of millions of manual scavengers, across India, who were ostrasiced from the mainstream society as “untouchables”.
“Social reform is always a topic of interest at universities, and many students are, and will go on to be, highly involved in similar pursuits, and would value the opportunity to engage with an individual who has been so influential in your work on social progression,” she said in the letter to the Sulabh founder.
The design of bio-gas plant developed by Sulabh has been approved by the Indian government. The technology has also been used to construct over 5,500 public toilet complexes for the poor living in cities across south and central Asia.
Sulabh also runs a vocational training centre in Rajasthan’s Alwar district to help the rescued manual scavengers in finding alternative avenues. Sewing, embroidery, food-processing and beauty care are part of the training programmes. Dozens of such women trainees participated in a fashion show held recently at the UN headquarters in New York to mark the International Year of Sanitation.
Founded in 1815, the Cambridge Union Society has been working on to facilitate free speech and debate and provides its members with the opportunity to engage with the foremost individuals in culture, media and politic.
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- US engineers' body lauds low-cost Indian toilet technology - May 18, 2010
- 'Liberated' women manual scavengers meet US ambassador - Mar 01, 2010
- 'Sulabh toilet model can be adopted worldwide' - Jun 03, 2012
- Indian toilet model to be used in Afghanistan - Sep 05, 2010
- Rajasthan's Dalit women celebrate 'liberty' at temple - Jun 20, 2011
- India's Sulabh gets top UN consultative status - Nov 03, 2011
- Rajasthan town free from manual cleaning of toilets (Nov 19 is World Toilet Day) - Nov 19, 2009
- Only 10 percent Indian villages fully sanitized: Jairam - Mar 19, 2012
- 24-year-old manual scavenger wins beauty pageant - Nov 19, 2011
- Sulabh to launch toilets with health centres in Delhi - Jan 16, 2012
- Sanitation crisis bigger killer than any war: Sulabh chief - Mar 31, 2009
- 'Sulabh toilets can help reduce global warming' - May 27, 2010
Tags: alternative energy resources, alwar, beauty care, bindeshwar pathak, cambridge union society, cambridge university, cambridge university students, campaigning, central asia, environmental sanitation, food processing, gas fuel, indian government, london jan, mainstream society, manual scavengers, public toilet, rajasthan, social progression, vocational training centre