Spend a penny
July 8th 2008 05:52
The great Asian clean-up is gathering pace. I blame the Brits, who started it by changing a deeply embedded cultural tradition a few decades ago when they stopped Hong Kongers spitting in the streets.
Then came the news last week that the authorities in China are aiming to make the same change in time for the Olympics.
And now, in the biggest relief of all, authorities in southern India have announced that they have successfully reversed the habit of centuries and stopped people urinating in the streets.
The method used to achieve this breakthough was as simple as it was effective - they started paying people to use public loos. A Times of India report at the weekend even spoke of queues outside public conveniences in Musiri, in Tamil Nadu state.
The newspaper quoted the authorities as explaining that the payment of close to a US dollar per month to use public toilets was to promote hygiene and research in rural areas. The research factor comes from collecting all that extra urine and testing for its efficacy as a crop fertiliser, an official of the state's agricultural university added.
Pennies well spent.
Then came the news last week that the authorities in China are aiming to make the same change in time for the Olympics.
And now, in the biggest relief of all, authorities in southern India have announced that they have successfully reversed the habit of centuries and stopped people urinating in the streets.
The method used to achieve this breakthough was as simple as it was effective - they started paying people to use public loos. A Times of India report at the weekend even spoke of queues outside public conveniences in Musiri, in Tamil Nadu state.
The newspaper quoted the authorities as explaining that the payment of close to a US dollar per month to use public toilets was to promote hygiene and research in rural areas. The research factor comes from collecting all that extra urine and testing for its efficacy as a crop fertiliser, an official of the state's agricultural university added.
Pennies well spent.
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