June 11, 2026
In his Hindustan Times column, Vital Signs, OHT’s Dr. Ramanan Laxminarayan writes that India’s sanitation challenges are deeply connected to both social inequality and missed economic opportunities. Despite laws banning manual scavenging, many sanitation workers still face dangerous conditions cleaning septic tanks and sewers, often with severe health consequences.
India has expanded toilet access significantly, but wastewater treatment infrastructure has not kept pace. As a result, billions of liters of sewage are generated daily and much of it is untreated. Dr. Laxminarayan highlights how countries such as Japan, South Korea, Denmark, and the Netherlands invested in modern sewage systems and turned treated waste into a valuable resource.
Human waste contains nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen, key ingredients in fertilizer. While India imports billions of dollars’ worth of fertilizer each year, these nutrients are largely lost. Investing in modern sewage treatment, mechanized sanitation systems, and nutrient recovery could improve public health, reduce hazardous sanitation work, lower fertilizer imports, and support a more sustainable circular economy.”A country that still sends human beings into sewers cannot call itself developed. Building a modern sewage and nutrient recovery system would end one of India’s oldest forms of caste labour, and turn waste into one of the inputs of national self-sufficiency.”
Read it here.
