As recently as four years ago, these downtrodden women were engaged in the traditional family practice of cleaning night soil in their localities. They were helped in giving up their work by a vocational training centre, Nai Disha (new direction), an initiative of the Sulabh Sanitation movement in Alwar. Each one of them is now an active member of a group to motivate her scavenging sisters to resign the lives of drudgery and humiliation.

A book containing the success story of these liberated women titled "The Princesses of Alwar" was released by UN officials at the Wednesday event.