At the behest of India’s Supreme Court, Sulabh steps in to provide care for the widows living in the government shelters in Vrindavan. Since then Sulabh has been providing humanitarian services to thousands of widows in Vrindavan and Varanasi.

In a National Conference on the Sociology of Sanitation, organized by Sulabh International Centre for Action Sociology Dr. Pathak said “Sociology of sanitation is a scientific study to solve the problems of society in relation to sanitation, social deprivation, water, public health, hygiene, ecology, environment, poverty, gender equality, welfare of children and empowering people for sustainable development and attainment of philosophical and spiritual knowledge to lead a happy life and to make a difference in the lives of others.”

Sulabh International Academy of Environmental Sanitation & Public Health in collaboration with 1001 Fontaines , France undertook project on water supply to the rural community affected by arsenic groundwater contamination in four blocks of West Bengal. The initiatives in West Bengal have been designed with a view to build drinking water production sites in order to guarantee water quality at the point of use instead of focusing only on water source.

The journey of Sulabh toilet started from Arrah municipality, Bihar in 1973, where two toilet models were set up for public demonstration. The local authorities then supported and endorsed the idea.

The low cost toilet then had to popularised and made easily available and hence Sulabh International was born as a non-governmental organisation with the sole objective of converting dry household latrines into two pit pour flush toilets he designed.

Five public toilets with biogas plants were set up in Kabul, Afghanistan, with the financial support of the Government of India. In the same year, Sulabh activities were mentioned in President APJ Abdul Kalam’s book ‘Mission India – A Vision for Indian Youth’.

The Economic and Social Council of the United Nations invited women who worked as manual scavengers but were liberated by Sulabh to attend the Proceedings of the House at the United Nations. They also walked the ramp with famous models.

The Hon’ble President of India, Mrs. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, met Mrs. Usha Chaumar and other liberated scavengers at Rashtrapati Bhawan on July 25, 2008 on their return from New York.

In the same year, The liberated women scavengers visited Jagannath temple in Alwar along with their families and the families of those in whose houses they had earlier cleaned bucket toilets and they all jointly performed Puja in the temple. This was followed by a community lunch in which all of them participated jointly.

The first public toilet was inaugurated in Patna, Bihar. It had 48 seats, 20 bathrooms, urinals and wash basins. It was operated round the clock. The idea was an instant success. Over 500 people used the facility on day one. Over 9000 such toilets were built since then across India and abroad.

Sulabh International took affirmative actions to transform the lives of manual scavengers in two towns: Alwar and Tonk. Its intervention involved setting up a skill and personality development centre called Nai Disha meaning new direction.

Sulabh organized the World Toilet Summit 2007 in collaboration with the World Toilet Organization (WTO) in which representatives of 44 countries participated. And after the three-day conference, a Delhi Declaration was issued for a cleaner world.

The New York Times writes a special article hailing Sulabh’s work and its crusade to alleviate the sufferings of manual scavengers.

A people’s commission on the abolition of manual scavenging constituted by Sulabh is inaugurated by the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Sulabh honoured the Prime Minister with the "Honest Man of the Year Award".

Sulabh started a country-wide programme for involvement of women in sanitation, health and hygiene.

Sulabh developed a new and convenient technology to make biogas plant effluents free from colour, odour and pathogen-free. The technology known as SET (Sulabh Effluent Treatment) lowers BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) of effluent to less than 10 mg/l, making it suitable for agriculture, aquaculture or safe discharge into a river or any water body or cleaning of floors of public toilets.

Sulabh is awarded with the K.P. Goenka Memorial Award for outstanding work for the benefit of environment and ecology – it is the first public award to bring the organisation into prominence

Sulabh started rehabilitation programme for children of manual scavengers in by training them to develop skills like shorthand, typing, motor driving, mechanics etc. It was done with the support of the Government. The programme was a huge success and was extended across the country. The programme was later expanded to include regular education and technical training.

Dr Pathak challenged the formulaic tradition that barred manual scavengers from entering temples. He led 200 such people (untouchables) into the Nathdwara Temple in Udaipur, Rajasthan, for prayers in a peaceful manner. This unprecedented step was widely hailed. Dr Pathak and the group was given audience by the then President Venkataraman, Vice-President, Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma and Prime Minister, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi.

For the mainstreaming of manual scavengers and to do away with the practice of untouchability, Sulabh urged people of reputation to help - and even - adopt a family that worked as manual scavengers. Consequently, almost 5,000 scavenger families were adopted by high-status people, including judges, advocates, journalists, ministers.

TIn February 1992, Sulabh organised a ‘National Seminar on Liberation and Rehabilitation of Scavengers’ in New Delhi in which Vice-Chancellors, professors, planners, and administrators passed a resolution to make it a people’s movement. The seminar was inaugurated by the former President of India, late Giani Zail Singh.

Sulabh Public School - an English medium school was established in Delhi. Primarily for the children of the scavengers, 60% of the children are from the weaker sections and the rest are from general families ensuring no discrimination. The Sulabh Vocational Training Centre was set up to provide vocational training to the children of weaker sections thereby enabling them to earn their own livelihood.

The first of its kind in the world, the Sulabh International Museum of Toilets was set up in New Delhi. The curation of this unique museum is such that it narrates the story of toilet evolution through artefacts, pictures, posters and other available materials. The museum is hugely popular and has been profiled by the likes The Time Magazine and the Discovery Channel. Thousands visit the museum every year.