INDIA vies with China to be the world’s fastest-growing large economy, but its record on basic sanitation is dreadful. Around 450m people relieve themselves in playgrounds, behind trees, by roadsides, and on railway tracks and river banks. In cities 157m urban dwellers, more than the population of Russia, lack decent toilet facilities.

INDIA vies with China to be the world’s fastest-growing large economy, but its record on basic sanitation is dreadful. Around 450m people relieve themselves in playgrounds, behind trees, by roadsides, and on railway tracks and river banks. In cities 157m urban dwellers, more than the population of Russia, lack decent toilet facilities.