The colonial administration in British India relied on sweeper labour force to maintain cities’ sanitation, rather than installing modern technological facilities such as sewer systems. The administration also intended to take control over sweepers who had worked based on their customary rights, by incorporating them into the municipal employment system with “the fixed wage”. Particularly, from the 20th century, along with the Indian Independence Movement, the issue on sanitation and sweepers became notably articulated with the social reform struggle, especially in Hindu society. The people who are generally believed to have been the most prominent activists in this struggle, were not only Dalits including the sweepers themselves but M. K. Gandhi and his co-workers or followers. Gandhi and Gandhians, contributed to the development of low-cost flush toilets, as well as the modern notion of “cleanliness” in the present-day India. As was with the colonial municipality, Gandhi and Gandhians did not necessarily facilitate the introduction of modern, mechanized, and sanitary engineering-based technology. What they differed on with the colonial administration, was that they explored solutions that would achieve both the improvement of unsanitary conditions of local communities and alleviate the social discrimination against sweepers and scavengers. Gandhi dealt with the problem of sanitation both in India and Indian communities in the British Empire, and the social discrimination against the scavengers who were thought to have engaged in the manual cleaning of human waste. This openend the way to low cost flush toilets. The Sulabh organisation developed interested options that are still valid today.
To show different options, a visit to the World Toilet Museum in New Delhi (India) is well-recommended.
