I. INTRODUCTION: In India, there are constitutional and legislative prohibitions on “untouchability” and manual scavenging. However, women and men continue to be engaged in manually cleaning human excrement from private and public dry toilets, open defecation sites, septic tanks, and open and closed gutters and sewers. They usually embark upon manual scavenging because of traditional caste-based roles that leave them few, if any, alternate employment options, a situation perpetuated by poor implementation of laws and policies prohibiting this practice.

This book is the result of twenty years of study, research and fieldwork by the author who is a Gandhian with long years in social service. It is a seminal piece of work on scavenging which extensively discusses its sources, history and geographical spread.The social inequity of the system has always concerned Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak who joined Gandhiji`s movement for the liberation of scavengers soon after his education.Road to Freedom is a holistic approach to the problem of scavenging aimed at a total liquidation of the system.

With reference to Bihar.

This bookis about the various aspects of sociocultural and economic marginality of Bhangis,their stigmatized identity and thier efforts to escape from thier marginal situation by bringing about changes in thier status. The awareness of exploitation and deprivation has led to unionization and politicization within the ambit of the democratic processes in india.