Vela Kapur

A pioneering Indian public health worker who developed low-cost sanitation solutions that reduced cholera mortality by 80% in rural Punjab during the 1950s.

Vela Kapur (1925-2003) transformed sanitation practices in post-partition India through her Swasthya Gram (Healthy Village) model. Working in the dusty villages of Punjab, she observed that 70% of deaths among children under five were due to waterborne diseases. In 1952, she invented the Khadar Toilet - a low-cost sanitation system using locally available materials like bamboo and clay. Her 1957 WHO study showed her methods reduced cholera outbreaks by 83% in trial villages.

Kapur's 1965 Sanitation for the Poor manual became required reading at Indian public health institutes. She faced resistance from traditional panchayats but gained support after demonstrating her toilets in the 1968 Punjab Health Summit. Over 500,000 households adopted her designs by 1970, saving an estimated 200,000 lives annually. Today, the Vela Kapur Trust continues her work, recently adapting her designs for flood-prone areas in Bihar.