Prez assures scavengers of scrapping the practice from India

New Delhi, Jun 25 (UNI) President Pratibha Devisingh Patil assured a delegation of scavengers of abolishing the abominable practice from the country's face soon.

Ms Patil gave this assurance to the delegation of 30 scavengers, who paid a visit to her yesterday before moving to New York to participate in a fashion parade along with country's top models - symbolising the ultimate emancipation: from the depths of scavenging to the height of glitz and glamour.

Appreciating the unique effort of 'Sulabh International', a social service organisation, which liberted the women scavengers from Alwar in Rajasthan, the President said she would soon talk to the government on bringing an end to the inhuman practice.

She also expressed satisfaction over the efforts of these women who, while having left the age-old practice of manual scavenging, had initiated a social initiative to motivate their colleagues to abandon the practice once and for all.

The 'ultimate emancipation' project, initiated by 'Sulabh' founder Dr Bindeshwar Pathak, aims to showcase the path-breaking contributions of liberated scavengers in the context of social reform.

The project would see these 30 women walk the ramp at one of the halls of the United Nations General Assembly on July 2 in the presence of ministers, officials and dignitaries from more than 150 countries to mark 'International Year of Sanitation 2008'.

The two-hour programme, besides a fashion show, would exhibit a 15-minute film on scavenging and would be topped by speeches from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Prince of Orange of Netherlands William Alexandar - who also heads the Water and Sanitation Mission of the United Nations.

Later, the UN Secretary General would release a book titled 'Princess of Alwar' containing success stories of the 'liberated women'.

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