The first batch of 100 EcoSan toilet families in the village, who are using them properly and maintaining well the kitchen garden watered by the urine from the toilet, are eligible for the contest.

The contest is part of the three-day Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Conference being organised by Institute National de la Recherche (INRA) France, UN-AMI (Friends in need) France, the Bharathidasan University and SCOPE in Tiruchirappalli from July 12.

Besides cash awards ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 under three categories, all participants will be given a prize on July 14, M Subburaman, Director of SCOPE, said. The theme of the conference, the first of its kind in the country, is “Role of Technology and Innovation in Attainment of the MDG-Food Security, Socio-Economic and Environmental Security and Health in Marginalised Zones in India”.

These low-cost toilets save water and send out by-products, which can be used as manure. It would help the public understand the role of ecological sanitation in promoting a sustainable and clean environment.

“This model would become the benchmark in future when the world might face an acute shortage of clean water and organic manure. The model would ensure food security and sustainable environment,” said V Ganapathy of Exnora International.

According to Shyama V Ramani of INRA France and Coordinator of the Conference, ecological sanitation would solve the three major constraints of achieving the MDG—save water, ensure sustainable environment and provide a toilet model that will help reuse by-products for ensuring food security.

The beauty contest would remove the general feeling that toilets were an “unfancied necessity”, Ramani said.